Sleepwalking

Last night I went to sleep
walking through darkness,
a gloomy forest hemming me in.

My sleeping eyes
could barely make out
the shapes of the trunks
under their grotesque
massy foliage.

Suddenly, in stumbling, 

I raised my eyes 

to see a rounded clearing,
the moonlight shining mistily
across soft swathes of grass
and there in the middle you stood,
your hands held out to me.

I ran into your embrace
and felt your living breath
as it rose and fell
through the fabric of your shirt.
You held me tightly
and my fears fell away.

Under the moon,
under the starry sky,
you are my rock, my support,
 my inspiration,
 my earth, my joy.

Before you colours were muted,
but the true colours of love
lie within your arms,
in a forest glade
under a gamboge moon.

© Jennifer Phillips

Moon at Flinders, VIC © Jennifer Phillips