R.E.A.L.

You awaken at night
In the garden of our Lord and Lady

As you rise, you hear the music
Of violins and flutes vibrating off of
The leaves and flowers that surround you

You realize that you have forgotten your name
You look down in the moonlight
At the robe covering your bare skin
It is red and gold, the colors of royalty
You think: perhaps I am a princess

A breeze carrying the scent of lilies takes you by the hand
And walks you through the foliage
To the edge of a lake
That is as vast and motionless
As a mountain that has melted

You look down at your reflection
And see me standing behind you
You turn to look
But there is only the fragrance of lilies

You look back at my image trapped beneath the stillness
Our eyes meet
My gaze becomes a vine encircling your ankle

The voice of my breath whispers in your ear:
"Come into the lake
Where my words will have lips
And my love can know the ache of flesh"

You let your robe fall to the ground
Your body is the color of olives ripening

Naked, you feel a chill that causes
Your elbows and your knees to pull towards each other

You feel the vine moving up the inside of your thigh
A heartbeat begins to throb in your toes
It rises up through the bones in your legs
And guides the vine inside you

Adrenaline loosening its entrance
It swells as it fills you
Causing your muscles to bloom with heat
And your balance to fail
You let go of the ground, letting yourself fall

But more vines wrap around your limbs and your torso
And lower you, like strong arms, into the lake

Touching its surface
You shudder as if from water that is too cold
Or unclean
But it is warm
And it passes through you like sunlight
As you dissolve into me

***

When you wake
It is day
You are wearing peasants clothes

You remember your name
And our Lord's and Lady's
And mine

You return to the work of tending the garden
And smile
Because you know that it was real