The First Time I Awoke Beside You
The first time I awoke beside you
the dawn was cracking like the pane of ice
on the shore of the Shenandoah, true
and delicate as the new year, and twice
I had to remind myself: yes. The first
time I awoke beside you the whole world
knew what was changed, knew I had searched and searched
and finally found my only self, a pearl
diver emerging from the deep to draw
a breath and only then to feel the treasure
in his fingers, reconfigure all
he’d hoped for yesterday, take in the measure
of his fortune. The first time beside
you the door to life was opening wide.
© Michael Fleming
Brattleboro, Vermont
December 2009
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