at dusk, with the gentle sun <br />and the fisher-folk giants of trees <br />casting shadow-nets over the forest clearing, <br />just then <br />we met; <br />just the two of us <br />and we stood out in the open in the clearing; <br />and she reached out for my hands <br />and I held her warm hands <br />and we pressed close <br />and moved in an awkward animal dance towards a tree; <br />and her back against the tree <br />we felt each other’s breath and we kissed deep <br />and we heard, we felt <br />the beat of the heart and each other’s life and blood <br />and one’s very existence; <br />and we felt each other’s skin and life <br />and our sexuality and our very being <br />and we felt the desires of each <br />and the mind and energy of each; <br />and the memories and instincts <br />and each other’s warmth and moisture <br />and the firmness and softness and tenderness; <br />and we snatched at each other’s life <br />and felt the veins and nails <br />and teeth and clothes; <br />and we entered the pressing closeness of life against each: <br />and then we knew, we knew, there as we embraced <br />in the forest clearing <br />at dusk, with the gentle sun and the shadows of the gentle giants <br />and with the forest breathing <br />we knew there <br />we heard the life that was breathing <br />time that was still and observing every move <br />in the air and on the forest grounds; <br />and we knew there was something else too, <br />that as we had lost one in each other <br />we were losing ourselves in something else <br />as it was in us; <br />there was something else - <br />it was not us alone <br />in the forest blessed by the dusk and quiet giants <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />(This poem, 'at dusk, with the gentle sun' is to be read in conjunction with the painting: ‘The Forest Clearing’ by Ivan Shushkin)<br /><br />Raj Arumugam<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/at-dusk-with-the-gentle-sun/
