Guest Poem by Stephen Boyce

Stephen Boyce is the author of three poetry collections, ‘Desire Lines’ (Arrowhead 2010), ‘The Sisyphus Dog’ (Worple 2014) and ‘The Blue Tree’ (Indigo Dreams 2019), described by Philip Gross as ‘a seamless weave of thought, perception and emotion’. His most recent pamphlet collection is ‘The Unforgiving Knot’ (Marlott Press 2020). Stephen is co-founder of Winchester Poetry Festival and lives in north Dorset. stephenboycepoetry.com

Perigee

I have been looking to the East
where they tell you everything
is illusion, nothing lasts.

The night of the strawberry moon,
though I saw it, I was shuttered
in a windowless room.

I saw you standing in a field
with your back to that glowing moon
among grasses, clovers and orchids.

You were looking in my direction,
the gift of love in your eyes.
It felt like you’d been there forever.

How close you have come in your orbit.
I asked myself what had I done
in my life to deserve this.

And though it was my imagining
I knew everything to be just
as it seemed. I had no doubt of it.

And no wish for it to be otherwise –
the moon’s ancient light, your smile,
the grasses brushing our thighs.