Once upon a solemn, moonlit evening,
I held the hand of my beloved, gazed together at the stars
The night sky trembled in emotion as twilight turned dusk,
And the river beneath churned in repentance, in revolt to time’s lies.
As we gazed upon the evening, the autumn leaves lit
In a wonderful array of reds, of oranges and sweet yellows,
The night sky sparkled, and as stars grew bright,
The river beneath marked, reflected the sky.
There, beneath, passed a series of candles
Lit, their waxen fragrance lifting my eyes
To the midnight above, the velvet indigo of the night
The river… to it we gazed, and gasped as we saw
The lives of millions, their faces lit
Only in the eyes of those candles, on the moonleaves flit
The river coursed through the lives of their lives, the hearts of their hearts,
A never-ending paean to the cruelness of life.
I said to my beloved, look at the stream,
See how it mirrors the sky and of me—
She looked in my eyes and said, “truly, you mistake,
The river beneath for the lives of I and thee.
We lay there amongst the leaves, fallen from the trees
A deciduous autumn, the deciduous hearts
Claiming eternity, as though eternity for them be.
My love and I were together in this spark of midnight,
Gazing down at the river, the candles floating beneath
Wondering what it meant, but knowing the truth
The truth beyond all truths, knowing that beyond,
The river mirrored my life, and the sky hers…
Forever separated in candle flames, forgotten amongst the falling leaves,
Waning with the waxing moon, yet dying with the living trees.