Not knowing the time and blinking blind eyes
She awoke in a fright on a cool summer night
With a yawn and a stretch and a notion to rise
Finding the lamp bathed herself in the white
Her mind was still fuzzy, her focus at ebb
With her head on her pillow she watched the walls fade
The light became thin silken strands of fine web
That descended to ground of rough jade
Her bed now of twigs and of twine and of straw
She climbed from the tightly wove nest
For the sound of a faraway surf was her draw
And a path called her forth from the West
The narrowing path sharply dipped toward the lows
And to depths of she couldn’t quite say
To one side a cliff wall of onyx arose
To the other the earth fell away
From the cliff where she perched peering into the mist
Surveying vast shadows with hands at her hips
And holding one side of her gown in her fist
Licked the salt of the sea from her tingling lips
With a hesitant step towards her darkening view
She followed the path under shimmering black
Her way it was steep and her balance askew
But precipitous steps were her knack
The stars were a-glimmer, their message unclear
Strange patterns played o’er her head
The starlit walkway led through unspoken fear
Yet she thrilled at the slight sense of dread
She emerged from the path onto sands of still mauve
Still she journeyed the longing of night
The sand crabs they waltzed an impromptu improv
As she looked toward the morrow for light
The water was near and her wonder it fed
As she wandered the sparkling sand
For she still didn’t know where her destiny led
As she came to the end of the land
She stood at the brink of a nebulous shore
The waves they cried out an, “ahoy”!
She stepped in the wet and took two steps afore
And the warmth of the water was joy
Adrift in the tide bobbed a golden bijou
A gleaming and wondrous prize
Inlaid with spirals of tangerine hue
Each facet reflecting her eyes
Lost in the calming display of its face
Lulled by the orange tinted gold
A smile lit her face and her heart skipped a pace
As it called to her sweetly and bold
With a tentative grasp and not quite knowing why
She reached for the gem in mid swirl
She caressed it and sighed, rode a curious high
Her delight made her seem just a girl
But the edges were sharp and the touch left its mark
It drew from her one drop of blood
And her head was now light and the pain it was stark
Emotions poured in like a flood
The bauble it grew as she looked on enrapt
Its surface a translucent maze
She blinked and she gasped, enveloped and trapped
She swooned in a dizzying daze
She bobbled and tipped bouncing over the waves
Now riding inside the clear jewel
Floating past ominous rocks and sea caves
Above ocean both awesome and cruel
As the shore shrank away from the lady adrift
She wondered if she would survive
Cascading from plateau to crest into rift
Where her craft plunged her forth in a dive
The water was bright and the view through the walls
Of her glittering delicate cage
Was of myriad cliffs and of undersea falls
And of unending deserts of beige
Through jungles of coral and vast schools of fish
She felt herself pulled ever on
But she hoped that her journey would shortly finish
And she yearned for the daybreak of dawn
With first just a hint then suggestion of shape
A spire soon grew in her sight
And a palace below where she lit with a scrape
In the sands at the end of her flight
The walls of her cell seemed to shiver and peel
Her sight was eclipsed in a haze
A weight on her breast made her stagger and reel
Then dimmed like the moon out of phase
Against her breast lay her mysterious find
At the end of a silvery chain
And into the shadows the light of it shined
Brightly it waxed into wane
She paused to consider what fate may have dealt
And through a broad gate spied a court
Where a crystalline phalanx of armored men knelt
Beneath walls of a towering fort
Their heads bowed with glimmering swords in salute
Their armor shone into the gloom
Though wary she steeled herself, eyes resolute
And stepped forward to glory or doom
Toward the entry she crept to the castle’s great door
Past the kneeling brutes there arrayed
Entering a hall which she longed to explore
Then was lost in a grand colonnade
Past tapestries, portraitures, braziers aflame
Over carpets and rugs deep and lush
Gazing at objects that she could not name
But their beauty left her warmed and flush
Then spying an entry both massive and grand
She stepped into brilliance and dream
The opulence staggered, magnificence sang
And her heart beat with longing and need
At the end of the chamber she gazed at a king
His throne etched with glowing seaweed
His visage was fierce and she feared him a fiend
Though his eyes were both focused and keen
With trembling steps she approached the great lord
While his eyes seemed to drink of her soul
For though unafraid as she crossed the long court
She knew not…what his dark eyes forbode
Now standing before the sea king on his throne
She noted his features were fine
A beautiful man who seemed young yet so old
Then he leaned forward smiling wide
“I’ve called to you, Love, from the deep of the blue
I called to you, Dear, and you came
Now dance for me, Lady, now sing me a tune
Now lay with me under the waves”
His powerful voice echoed loudly and proud
As the throbbing bass shook to her core
The tone of it gentle yet tinged with a growl
His presumption now filled her with scorn
“I followed a path, I admired a beach
I swooned and I fell in a trap
You carried me here, snatched me out of the bleak
For what purpose I don’t understand”
“Pshaw” was his answer, he grinned a deep grin
“No one who comes here lacks want
No one may enter here on passing whim
These chambers of my beating heart
From the heights far above, from the what to the why
You’ve arrived in my kingdom, my sprite
What matter the reason or cause of your flight
Whether passion or through staid design”
He descended his throne with a deft subtle grace
An unnatural, radiant feat
In a flow was beside her as if in a feint
And he whispered these words in her ear
“I’ll show you the night and I’ll show you the stars
As they glow through the fathoms above
I’ll clothe you in raiment of beauteous art
From rays of moonlight they’ll be spun
And you’ll tell me stories of clouds and blue sky
And of mountain tops bathed in sunlight
And of creatures of air dappled fuchsia and lime
And of winds upon which their wings glide
Now give me your hand and my realm I will share
And my knowledge and treasures and throne
We’ll dine on rich foods and fine wines we’ll decant
Throughout these fair halls we will roam”
His words spoke of love, and of need and of hope
Of destiny, greatness and fate
Her mouth formed an O as she rose on tiptoes
And she sank into his deep embrace
Her body it sang in his light poignant touch
And she moaned in his lingering kiss
Her arching back forming a perfect crescent
But she suddenly feared his true wish
For she looked to the edge of the fabulous hall
And spied myriad gems there aligned
Each on a pedestal wrought of basalt
Each glowed with a flickering light
She felt herself blush as he tickled her breast
And felt his hand reach for her jewel
Then stiffened and pushed and was free with a wrest
The chain snapped, the jewel flew in a twirl
The moment was endless, she stood paralyzed
As the gem rose above both their heads
Then slowly it spiraled and on the floor smashed
Into fragments of oranges and reds
From afar she heard rumblings, the mighty hall quaked
“What have you done?” asked the king
Confused by his motionless questioning face
She spoke in the light’s darkening
“Your precious collection, my jewel you would steal
My innocence, love and free thought
How dare you presume with your form and your spiel
That that was the life that I sought”
He looked to the pedestals, black as the night
At the light from the objects they held
Great cracks in the floor opened wide in their sight
With a tumbling crash the gems fell
The throne was atilt, blocks fell from above
Seawater began rushing in
He turned to her sadly but smiling with love
And spoke these fell words through the din
“Day does not come here nor sun ever rise
Blue sky was never my fate
And though through these halls silvery beams gleam and shine
Through the eons no golden rays play
With each passing moon you’ve arrived at my door
And with wonder and lingering grace
Left many a jewel that in awe I adore
They’ve brought hope and great joy to this place
Our time has been short and now ends with the dawn
But perchance once again we may meet
In dream fields of straw amid flute playing fauns
Or on cloud tops of billowing cream
Know that you’re loved, My Dear, know that I care
Know that you’ll ever be missed
At the edge of the sunrise, the rim of the dusk
From the deepest dark depths of the sea”
Before she could speak she was lost in a rush
Of cascading sea and debris
Lost amid torrents and currents and crush
Then darkness, then nothing but sleep
She awoke in her bed with an ache in her heart
And vaguely mysterious memories
Of mountain and sea and of halls of fine art
A lost bauble, a beautiful king
But deep in her breast she felt no emptiness
She felt rhythms of freedom and light
And a hope and a joy she could not quite express
And a pulsating gem in her heart
