The Lady in the Sunlight

 

I see you poised in a pool of sunlight

That offers sanctuary from the darkling forest;

Calm and puzzled by the trees' lordly might

As if their blackness might bleed the white

 

Of the ticking afternoon. I fear you'll leave here soon,

Resume a journey or two, perhaps,

Or rest after brief sojourns beyond the moon;

My dilemma whether I should interrupt you in your swoon.

 

If I step forward and say 'Hello, I believe I know you'

You may disappear upon your way, be utterly gone,

While I shall be transformed as an alabaster statue

That weeps for my existence, and the caprice I drew.

 

If I do nothing but merely wait until, without reason,

You slowly rise and turn aside, I too shall be on my way,

Hoping that sunlight illuminates your path in its season

And prohibits sorrows for the consolations of Eden.

 

When first I found you silent in that plangent glade

I saw paint on canvas, a Pre-Raphaelite Princess

Glimpsed from tender heaven, transcendent maid.

How bright the discovery, how slow to fade.