Spellbound

Spellbound


Spellbound. words escape me. going out as if a flame
extinguished. my capacity to want anything

In this transport the temperature is dropping. below the roof
the mane of a nameless horse. tossed back among the waves
in your eyes. the blue heaven and the open sea
bringing the sundered night to an end
in the web of separate things
the flight of the night's lost bird is ending
on the most remote corner of the world
an explosion in me only. lying in the ashes of a dress
my ember wings make a last fluttering gasp
knowing they've seen enough. downstairs
the floor is covered with a carpet of bleeding prayers
and the walls and ceilings take on its glow
no other hand but yours reaches out of the sky-drifts
to check the fire. no other hand

Spellbound. words escape me. going out as if a flame
extinguished. my capacity to want anything

In this transport the temperature is dropping
in a cold ray of moonlight
on your bed
I pass away
annihilated
from head to foot
in the fortress of your aloneness


Janet Hamill