Remembering a Starry Night

I stand in Fairy, staring at the stars.
Ebony softness blankets the fields
Where the dew has already fallen,
Sparkling in the moonlight--
Or perhaps it is the light of his eyes,
Gleaming with honor and truth
As he shares his wisdom of the sky?

Steamy breath in the cold spring air
drifts around us as mist in the night,
Belying cool demeanors as skin touches skin.
Hearts outside of time’s embrace flirt
With the lingering possibilities
at the edges of our minds,
Lingering, lurking, and waiting for a chance
To be seen, to be heard, to be spoken.

As he stands before me and our eyes meet,
I see visions of stolen moments of music and prayer,
Moments of omens and magic and braided hair,
Moments when I carefully watched him from across the fire
With the cadence of the drums and the chanting of Ancient ways
Driving words further and further into oblivion
Until there is nothing, nothing, nothing
But his eyes and the firelight between us,
Stirring desires once dormant,
Awakening and beckoning as the siren to the sea.

Does he know that I watch him?
Does he see how my gaze marks his path as he walks?
Does he feel my eyes upon his lips when he speaks?
Upon the downy hair on his chin where my fingers long to tarry?
Upon the bend of his neck where his shoulders unfold,
Strong and handsome
and oh, so inviting?

Does he know that I listen to him?
To his words of jest and joy?
To his words of passion and piety?
Does he know I hear him?
The voice behind his words,
Echoing with the tales yet untold of a life,
Of love, of loss, of courage, of overcoming?
Does he know? Dare I tell him?

The crisp air drives us closer.
I wrap the cloak of my heart round his shoulders
in the hope that he may find warmth and shelter there.
The scent of me reaches him once more on the breeze,
His sharp inhale sending shivers down my spine and into my soul,
Shivers banished by the embers at my center.
Were I, but for a moment, the wind,
Dancing round his face,
So softly and tenderly caressing his skin,
Leaving tiny kisses, echoes of my touch, behind me as I go.

But we haven’t eaten here in Fairy,
And all too soon our time-touched moment leads us back to the world
where the sun rises once more like a phoenix
Rising from the ashes to be born anew,
bearing forever the mark of this place,
Of this time,
And of the hope of new beginnings.

Now, so far away from him,
As I sit with my pen and paper
Collecting my thoughts
Before I drift off to sleep
With his name on my breath
And his voice resounding in my soul,
I can’t help but wonder
If he thinks of me in the shadow of the night
As my heart calls out to him across the miles?
William...