JOYOUS, YOU

today, as you lay on the spider swingthat I pushed gently to the rhythm of my breath,you closed your eyes, and the light restedand the birds flew back to the trees, and farawaya storm was brewing like a rumour, no one wouldbelieve it; I suppose the storm is anger symbolisedand the rolling hills are peace, and the night skyis the question and the answer, it is infinity or obliviondepending on what you believe; but you are joyand that is something I hold on to; you smile,because smiling to you is almost a language, and the treesare reflected in your eyes, and I see you, in my mind’s eye,running through a tunnel of light shining as gold as the sun –the light moves like a wall of water, it ripples a thousand rainbows;when you were born she placed you on my chestand our hearts began to beat in time, isn’t that amazing,and I looked into your huge eyes and for the first timein my life I knew joy and I knew peace; the kind of peacethat can accompany the fireworks of joy, the kindof peace that is deep in the bones, in the heart’s pit;there is an echo to it, an echo that remembersall the times in our lives that were fragile and fleeting;a remembrance of when the hills became shadowsand the gentle stream seem to lap in time withmy tears; it is the kind of joy that knows where itcame from and is lovelier because of it; the roomfilled with medics in blue overalls; joy hoveredlike a butterfly above my head, its wings flitting purple and red –and when finally you were returned to me you lay on my chest,I knew what life was, I knew what it meant –