Three sighs before sunrise - a poem by Chris Zachariou

Romeo and Juliet

I whispered:

'There are many kinds

of oceans between us

I know but come';

and you came to the forest

three sighs before sunrise.

In the shade of an acacia tree

with newborn blossom on your breasts

and blushing leaves weaving

I carved my name on your spine— red

the sun shimmered in a flask— dawn

and the tree began to bloom.

My Morning Star,

the white flower in the meadow

the pristine cove and the fragile sand

the ease of dusk in summertime;

and I, the northern breeze at noon

the young sea exuberant and new

always rushing back to your timid shoreline.

Lullaby of a wounded dawn,

now a name on a marble tree

the scent of frankincense burning in the censer
the yellow lantern lit at midnight;

and I, alone in the acacia forest

mourning the day without a sunset.