Glade

My dear sir

You take refuge in an ancient harbor town

Girded by mystic breakwaters

Whose timeworn antediluvian stones cry out with grayness and myth 

You come alone

Piloting a small boat across sassy waves

Drawn by water nymphs and island sprites

Whispering breezes into your tired ears

Edging you away from visions of your new squalling babe

Promising you restful salvation and release

You fall asleep in a glade tickled by faerie ferns and pussy willows

Dreaming of life's continuum

Floating above it

Surveying its nooks and crannies

Taking it all in

You know the universe as God does

But you wake up in the hoary arms of a thicket

Bearing only the pinpoint knowledge of a mere speck

Imagining the faded cries of a woman in childbirth

The putrid mass between her legs

The demon chasing you from her side

You ran and ran

Now only silence closes in

As you lie

In a glade

Beyond an ancient harbor town

Surrounded by mystic breakwaters

Whispering despair into your ears

©kcasady2015