Lantern

Your body is heavy — tired, so you let your eye’s curtain go down
You’re somewhere else — more alive, in the secret place that you have found
Velvety warmth washes o’er in midst of the quietest and darkest of nights
That even the crickets are resting from strumming their violins tonight
You presume the birds are back home, snuggled in their feathery nests
And hanging above, the moon’s whites blot in the shape of a melting crest
In this piercing stillness, you retreat to sleep and to listen to your dreams speak
Fleeting wishes that float, like softly lit lanterns meeting to kiss the stars in the sky
But always diffusing at its rippled surface, falling before it could fully take flight