some goddess blessed our loving with the sweet change,
the first rain of autumn, the welcome rain:
when I awoke amazed, confused,
the world was new again
when I surfaced from my dreaming at the first sun
the light was electric, the wind was young
and fierce as our two desires
spinning into one
in dry cold walls I'm haunted by wet heat,
in controlled stillness by abandon; I read
simple phrases twice -- you have left
your imprint upon me
the wind this day scatters pale leaves;
at odd intervals I pause to retrieve
my thoughts, scattered abroad
by gusts of memory
I move in my thin atmosphere of device and plan
haunted by the green richness of a kinder land
no one could guess the sounds the textures
written in these my hands
daily I deceive, conceal, control
elaborate are the battlements of soul
I evade my thirst for you; confronted
it could well consume me whole
some goddess blessed our loving with the sweet change,
the first rain of autumn, the welcome rain;
I am stripped of words, I want
I want it all again
-- GPL 1985 D. A. Clarke