Bereft

In the softness of the night

you arrive again and again --

Thought-ghost, magician's trick,

though I banish you with sweet pain.

And oft times we allow a whisper

zephyr-like to brush the heart

we kiss deep enough to drown

and yet again are torn apart

torn asunder as dreams from reality

drawn inexorably as tide to sand

flood, draw back, leave love-kelp to weep,

dissolve words on pages of eternity.

Betrayed yet again by absence I understand

Bereft of strong arms, I yearn for sleep.