The Promise And The Curse Poem by Neil Godden

Asleep, your quiet breathing in the dark
Assures me in my life that all is well.
The closeness of your body next to mine,
The softness of your skin, your fragranced smell.

I need no light to know your gracious form,
I need no lamp to see your very soul
The light that shines in me begins with you;
With how you are and how you help us grow.

I see the beauty in your lovely face.
Even in the deepness of the night
No darkness can conceal your greater grace,
A splendid aura lighting up my life.

`2.15` the clock above us says, the seconds pulse relentlessly to day,
I climb into bed still wide awake, you briefly stir, then gently slip away.
‘3 am ‘and still I cannot sleep, a nagging cough, a feeling of unease
Disquiet in the quiet of the night, unable to escape into a dream.

It is the cough that makes me leave my bed,
Its racking, rasping barking mocks the silence of the night
I make my way downstairs for remedy,
To the kitchen and the clean fluorescent light.

I fumble well enough to take the linctus and the drink
My burning throat now quenched with water cool.
My senses are alert now and I suddenly feel aware
Of how quickly I could fade away from you.

It wrenches yet again, this feeling of intolerable unease,
A strange sense of foreboding in my soul
Ominous, I shouldn't be afraid, this is our home,
But a menacing affliction fills my mind and takes a hold.

What if Death were lurking in the dimness of the hall,
Away, outside the man-made brightness of the kitchen light?
Not a figure in black to plead with but a bleak force of no hope
To enwrap my soul and take me from bright day to darkest night?

I make my way upstairs and back to you
And lay my wretched body next to yours,
At peace again on hearing your calm breathe
At ease again on touching your soft skin
As I cuddle up to you in warm embrace,
My arm rests gently on your flawless thigh.

Who could dispute the deepest thought that lasts for all of time,
The greatness and the truth forever known; that I was yours and you once too, were mine.