Dream Girl Poem by Alan Strand

Ah, here you are
My sweet love,
Come sit with me
Here by the sea-
It’s been a while.
How have you been
And what’s new with you
Besides your birthday?
Let’s chat about
The life we are swimming in,
Please rest a while with me-
Bathe in the glorious
Mid-summer’s day sun,
My dream quest has just begun.

I think I sometimes see you
During the quiet twilight hours
When dreams do their weaving
And seed their way
Into the awareness
Of my early morning sleep.

I am disappointed though
Because it’s way too fuzzy
To recall much at all
As I slowly awaken,
But I sense soft flashes
And feelings of you,
What are they? Don’t go!
I want to chase these
Mental remnants
Before they subtly drift away,
But all are destroyed
By the reality
Of my dream-defying consciousness.

Like a lazy morning mist
On shapeless shoreline rocks
In a sultry sea breeze-
They just slip away
In silky silence.

Now and then
When I do get to hold you,
Ever so briefly,
My heart drinks in
The love we do share-
Waves of warmth
Wash over me,
I feel lonely and helpless
As only a man adrift
In a sea of past love can be,
So I press my lips
Tightly to your skin
Revealing only the slightest hint
Of silent desperation.

Wait, the love is still there.
I can feel it, Hell,
I can almost smell it
In the softness of your neck.
But alas, our life paths are
No longer strongly entwined
So we must be content to stare
At each other’s lonely souls
As voyeuristic lovers,
Simultaneously rejoicing
The myriad of fond memories
While lamenting the longings
Of love long lost.

Some of the aching
Gives way
With the knowledge
That we will always
Have the kindred spirit-
A kind of eternal love
Watching over us,
As we stumble along the
One dream-trodden path
That we do share.

Reluctantly we release
Our firm but gentle grips
While lips try to linger
As I try to remember
The real feel of you.

Wistfully I watch
My soul mate saunter away.

I’ll see her another day,
And we’ll meet again
In that ethereal world
Where together
We can eagerly weave
Sweet dreams
Like these
Into a seeming reality.

For Carla, with Love on her 36th birthday,2003/07/25.)