Tonight In My Study Poem by Diana van den Berg

Cat dosing on my matured and yellow-wooded desk
and dog sleeping at my feet,
fingers soft-paused on the expectant keyboard,

feeling your presence,
slowly I lift my eyes
to precisely the fourth shelf from the ceiling
almost in the corner
of one wall of my beloved books,
hand-picked over decades
in solemn bookshop caverns
of stalactites and stalagmites,
sometimes excitedly treasure-hunting at sales,

and for a smoke-signal moment,
you are there,
smiling into the secrets of my soul
with those eyes that rapture me,
you are there
in the heart of a whisper,
reassuring me with your protective aura,

and the colours of the books
are the notes your fingers soft-strum
on my shoulders bared for you

and you laugh happily
at catching me
dreaming of you
dreaming of me
in shared paintings more enchanting
than the dawn and dusk love songs
serenading us softly,

and my lips drown
in your eyes
and rainbow chimera’s
born out of four seasons
and more,
blend us into a swirling rhapsody
of our knowing.

(31 January 2012)