Correspondence Interrupted Poem by Roy William Gotaas

CORRESPONDENCE INTERRUPTED:
if you should stop writing now:

I have sat long in cold, quiet darkness,
Lonely but unafraid,
With only my memories glowing
Like fireflies on black velvet.

Without warning, on the horizon,
Black fades to gray;
Mirage-like at first and then,
So quickly it dazzles unused eyes:
A rim, a curve of light rises
As I face you,
My unexpected sunrise.

In joy and partly superstitious fear
I leap, I dance and sing:
Bring out my beads and shells
And lay them sacrificially before you.

Warmed by your embracing rays
And the heat of fervent dancing,
I turn to see what other offerings I have
For the new light of my life.

When back I face I see the rising stopped
And, as I watch with holded breath,
You slip without a sound back down
Below the darkening horizon.

Was my dance too crude,
My heart’s drum-beat too loud?
Were my gifts too poor
The words of my song too much?

I shall sit again in the dark silence;
My eyes so dazzled now
I cannot see my glow-worm memories,
And ponder your sweet, fleet mystery.

You made me soon unused to the cold
And I shiver.
You made me a stranger to the loneliness
And I am afraid.