A Meeting Poem by Irina Doichinova

And when we met
In the naked forest
The night failed
To mask the brightness
Flaring our invisible eyes.

There was the moon,
Ghastly peering through -
A smeared face of silver.
We failed to vanish -
You saw me,
And I saw you.

You were wrapped in silence,
Abandonment and solitude.
Like a flame of sadness
Your shadow passed me by.

In the naked forest
Where we met
Dusk was falling discreetly.
Branches bare and black
Pierced the crisp air.

Blushing, a crimson shadow,
I leaned beside a tree.
Something was burning -
I saw you,
And you saw me.

Cold gush of air -
A stroke on my cheek.
Hiding in the warmth of my hair
I watched you floating away.

A flame of sadness,
Crimson shadow beside a tree,
A ghastly silver face
Peering through bare branches -
The moon, the forest and we.