Nighttime


Nighttime


The night nurse was kind as she tucked me up tight;

Her hair was dark auburn, her eyes blue and bright.

She said, “Come now, sleep; it’s the end of the day.”

Then she bid me goodnight though I wished she would stay.


The pains were not bad and I slept for a while;

I briefly awoke and thought of your smile;

I wanted to stay conscious to see if you’d come

But I started to hear distant drums.


The poet has said that no man is an island

And I seemed wandering alone in dark sea.

I was floating, desperate, looking for land

Until in a vision you came back to me.


I felt sure you weren’t real as I stared at the deep;

I believed it was all in my mind

Until you held onto my hand and said, “Darling, sleep,

Now it’s my turn to be kind.”


You started to fade, a bright cloud upward lifting;

I still wondered if I was lost in a dream.

But soon I found my body was drifting

And then you said, “Please come with me.”


In a pool at my feet were pearl oysters,

On a branch a bright cockatoo.

Music chimed down from heaven’s cloisters;

I knew I’d be forever with you.

© Harvey Sagar 2016