<b>Decade</b> When you came, you were like red wine and honey, And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness. Now you are like morning brea… - Amy Lowell

Strain

IT is late
And the clock is striking thin hours,
But sleep has become a terror to me,
Lest I wake in the night
Bewildered,
And stretching out my arms to comfort myself with you,
Clasp instead the cold body of the darkness.
All night it will hunger over me,
And push and undulate against me,
Breathing into my mouth
And passing long fingers through my drifting hair.
Only the dawn can loose me from it,
And the gray streaks of morning melt it from my side.
Bring many candles,
Though they stab my tired brain
And hurt it.
For I am afraid of the twining of the darkness
And dare not sleep.

I stand in the window and watch the moon.
She is thin and lustreless, But I love her.
I know the moon,
And this is an alien city.

All books are either dreams or swords.