Nightmares

Find me where my feelings lay
Where nightmares see the morning
the bloody lace of paradise
the lovers who adore me

The burn of breath not in my chest
the passion of a siege bereft
of any doubt, that we are sworn
at heavens gate to dance and mourn

She became, as lovers do
a maple tree in autumn
each limb capped with vibrant leaves
a broken sort of promise

Wound in her hair a solemn prayer
those red and silver braids
as gentle as the southward wind
the storm that will abate

Her lover stills, at a word
bade but not unbidden
no-ones son they’re done up wrong
the buttons of her nightgown

In the mirror behind her here
the muscles of her back
break the heart a work of art
reflected in the glass.