Three Sighs Before Sunrise Poem by Chris Zachariou

I whispered:
'There are many kinds
of oceans between us
I know but come';

and you came to the forest
three sighs before sunrise.

In the shade of an acacia tree
with newborn blossom on your breasts
and blushing leaves weaving

I carved my name on your spine - red
the sun shimmered in a flask-dawn
and the tree began to bloom.

My Morning Star,

the white flower in the meadow
the pristine cove and the fragile sand
the ease of dusk in summertime;

and I, the northern breeze at noon
the young sea exuberant and new
always rushing back to your timid shoreline.

Lullaby of a wounded dawn,

now a name on a marble tree
the scent of frankincense burning in the censer
the yellow lantern lit at midnight;

and I, alone in the forest
mourning the day without a sunset.