A New Year’s Evening

​I sat
trembling
on the bed,
trying
to find her face,
but I could not see it.

Her head
was transparent,
invisible
to my
hallucinating eyes.

All I could see
were the phosphorescent bones
of her skull,
glowing
in the blue tinged
lighting of the room.

Strychnine contortions,
clenched teeth,
dilated pupils,
heavy touch.

She held me
until the contours
of her silhouette
came back into focus,
and paranoia
had subsided.

After a time forgotten embrace
we decided to go outside
into
the apple slice night air
to escape
our jittery captors.

Ambling through
the frosty bristled lawn
and cackling leaves,
we made our way
to the cemetery
behind her house.

Beyond the outlines
of the gravestones
and Pines,
the moon hung low
on the horizon.

The glowing sphere
appeared to be partially
submerged
in a distant pond.

Enthusiastic chiffon
bathing
in
the stark essence of nature.

Only an hour
separated us
from a new year,
but we were not
concerned
with time.

Focus now
was based
on breathing,
and happening
in the moment.

Two organisms
drawing in
the electricity of life,
and exhaling
the molecular beauty
of actuality.

​Michael Sell