The Dream Poem by John Mateer

She has full, soft lips and is beautiful.
How he knows she is beautiful who can say?
She may be the image of the Malay bride on the travel-guide's cover.
But she is faceless, not frightening,
and her bones curve with devotional time.
He is kissing her. They are naked. Then she is singing
in the only African language he can understand.
Her voice is a young woman desiring a child.
She is singing the lullaby or nursery-rhyme with an elusive melody
that he has heard before, years ago, in another dream.
The echoing of her song could undo him if allowed to,
but before he can summon a word they are inaudible again.