Step into starlight, lovely and wild, lonely and longing, a woman, a child . . .
Throw back drawn curtains, enter the night, dream of his kiss as a comet ignites . . .
Then fall to your knees in a wind-fumbled cloud and shudder to hear oak hocks groaning aloud.
Flee down the dark path to where the snaking vine bends and withers and writhes as winter descends . . .
And learn that each season ends one vanished day, that each pregnant moon holds no spent tides in her sway . . .
For, as suns seek horizons, boys fall, men decline. As the grape sags with longing, remember—the wine!
Originally published by The Lyric
Michael R. Burch is the editor of The HyperTexts, on-line at www.thehypertexts.com. His poetry has been translated into fourteen languages, set to music by eleven composers, used in collaborations with visual artists, and taught in high schools and universities. A five-time Pushcart nominee, his poems, translations, letters, articles, essays, jokes and puns have been published by BBC Radio 3, The Hindu, Reader's Digest, TIME, USA Today, The Washington Post,Writer’s Digest—The Year’s Best Writing, and hundreds of literary journals.