Broken Glass World Poem by Eric Rhodes

Maybe I am nearsighted,
I always had trouble
seeing you in the distance.
At least I thought
you were so far away,
until I awoke from this lucid dream,
a nightmare and I knew that,
even while my eyes were closed.
The opaque glass
that was my world
shattered and rained down
around me like a sudden squall
upon a calm sea.
Oh, my lover, you are Aphrodite
standing before me in the shell
of my broken glass world.
If I for a second I felt ashamed
for ignoring your closeness,
it is washed away in the rush
of sea foam around your feet.
My soul reflected in the opulence
of the tiny pearl cupped
in your nimble hands
opens me and I see.

(2009)