A Place Where Morning Lies - by Vicente Reyes

A Place Where Morning Lies

In my earthly voyage at port you are the dove
that at dawn flew into view.
and on seeing you a light endued my starboard heavens.
It was as though I found a familiar face in a foreign land.
Your eyebrows arch so wondrously over your mesmerizing lashes,
that not even the inland hummingbird can claim such a delicate air
about her in her movement as you possess when you blink!
I want to see you doing that for many hours.
Why do I feel like I remember that?
Was it lifetimes ago-is it possible?
I seem to remember what I know is your sighing
in another age when our laughter framed the lantern hours.
In your eyes now it’s not like with others, not colors I see
but the stirring of ancient waters,
Your immortal soul as it grips my palpitating heart.
Can I grasp and give such beauty to my poet's constant fire?

I want to navigate your seas beyond the day's horizon.
In visions we stand in the maroon morning and in pink twilight,
with only a world colored blue as I stir honeyed dew in your cup.
Your hair's ethereal hue is kissed by mellow wine light
in the full moon night of lovers,
and my fortunate fingers weave playfully in your locks
as even the waves tease the rocks.
Your angelic smiling lips were made in the conch's rosy shade,
and the glow on your firm cheeks is warm like dolphin waters.
You are sweeter to hold than a dual handled goblet of gold
as you quench my sailor's thirst on the rediscovered shore.
Forgive that a man's passion's hands can tremble
as they caress and cherish a face adored.
My lips when they find you glide over your tenderness
like blossoms scent the night,
like butterflies in stormy winds yet maintain grace in flight,
Yet when you are the storm I become the mountain you cannot move,
for you swirl on a volcano which lifts you skyward
like eagles know when on high.
Oh to feel the finesse of your female caress
will be balm to my weary aching bones.
Your complexion is silky, your hair like a halo,
and your aura of yellow
does not compete with it much
but will rather complete when I touch
With world hardened fingers that move like a feather over
these lovely and by kisses traversed looks of yours.
There is a valley of delight in the curve of your neck,
It speaks of power like that of a mother lion
above the grassy plains flying,
be it to protect or attack or defend her ground and cubs.
You are a master artisan's tower and like a vaulted cathedral.
Here too, above your heart ever singing in a dovelike cooing power,
I rest my weary mind and in meditation
bathe my spirit for a moment.
I close my eyes and remember the fog and the clouds above another bay
dancing in the morning skies and becoming one essence.
so too will my naked spirit body blend with yours
as we come together again.
No matter if fate take us far hereafter,
in our time we met and walked in golden light
and a darkened path once crooked is made right and bright.
for one does not abandon beauty once found
like one might a red rose plucked,
fragrant and proud for an hour and forgotten in another.
Ah, sometimes Will is stronger than Fate
and Destiny is revised by the power
locked deep since the seed
and unveiled by the sun washed flower.
Your sea wind swept hair and your white shoulders bare in the morning,
When you stand on the pier and it does appear
your beauty makes the waves and sun rise.
You are robed in clear diamond white
like a bride poised on the bridge to forever.
I think it was a barefoot garden walk early in this life
when I sang a song of youth.
It was a sparrow call she loves me yes she loves me not,
and I scattered a trail of rose petals.
It was later so quickly now I see petals
not in her blush but robing her flesh.
She loves me not, she loves me yes, and so I fear but confess
a faint and deep yearning for the better, "yes".
She loves me yes yes yes I want to strip this flower to the bud.
I will see the clouds that veil her chest disperse
like the morning haze and so
I will revisit or explore deep tender secrets of a place I know.
I said when I am a mountaintop and you the ravishing storm
you make a volcano,
A mystery to which your touch supplies
a balancing essence in twin replies.
Perhaps on village cobblestones or in the marketplace
if I had caught your eye
or you captured my feet and I had come by I would have said
you are so pretty or you are so lovely or some such line.
Oh to tell you what I must tell you will take some time,
come join me, lovely, for another glass of cool sweet wine,
Come let us whisper what younger souls knew and what we now remember.
Oh did I not like a Roman demand the enemy’s surrender
though to you I gently render secrets, little secrets oh so tender?
My whisper will make you tingle in anticipation of the knowledge.
My hands will explore your Grecian form I so adore
and you will feel that you can linger
like a calm after the storm
and adorn the mountain with a rainbow.
It is more than a mood or a coat of many colors,
it is like a kiss from above
Come enjoy eternal moments and share the cup of love.

Let not too many moments go by without your hand in mine,
for the river of life flows swiftly and if we stand still the time
runs savagely until even the shore is washed away.
So many flowers bloom and wilt on the edge
but that is not your destiny.
I imagine us walking and talking for hours by the eternal sea.
Can you feel my arms around you,
Embracing your slim waist like a koala does his tree?
I do not know why you appeal so much to me—
if I could solve this mystery
I would define the scope of poetry
and art but I dare say only Divine melody
can capture the rapture the sound of your voice gives to me.

I saw you in a lover's dream dressed in flowers and the sight
Of you walking towards me is a blessing I will not set aside.
rather I want to reach and hold you close
and in your fragrance find delight.
Your graceful figure stands on such fine pillars,
That if I am a visitor to the temple
I will surely marvel at how smooth
yet how strong a design the Great Architect made for us.
Young girls come to the temple and dress its pillars in flowers,
and I sit with my steady fire contemplating the doorway of life.
The veil between two pillars once passed is but a gate to paradise.
Come closer, lovely one, for there remains no mystery.
Have you ever found the place where morning lies?
Look deep into my eyes and tell me what you see.

Vicente Reyes
Summer 1998

Internet source: http://www.thepoetsdiary.com/

First North American Serial Rights Available

e-mail vicentereyes@yahoo.com

May be reprinted freely for personal review or academic discussion