I Spent The Night with a Moth

by Emma Ambos

I found him when I stumbled in,
drunk on the navy breast
of the star-spangled sky.

There he was,
brushing flutter-by lashes
against my cheeks
wishing me silent hellos
scattering roughage kisses
up and down my lips

A lover in yellow and brown,
the color of a spent sunset,
He waxes and wanes,
steady as the moon.

Silent, he tells me of his journey
of the road not taken
and the static forest trees
that took his colors
in their boughs

Silent, he tells me of his flight
A silent strider over night
over eyelash rocks and snakeskin streams

Silent, he told me how he found the sun.
How he found the sun here
in all my darknesses
and it brought him to life
shuttering-fluttering life
frantic as a nightingales heartbeat

He begs to come closer,
he deigns to back away
He grows vain and inspects
his cheek in the mirror

My lover, graceful
in his yellow and brown,
settles above me,
when the coyotes yawn
and the sun dims,
there he sleeps
a dark spot on the wall,
comforting and quiet,
he sings me to sleep.

And into dusty sleep I fall,
my lover a moth,
my sun a light bulb,
my journey a ripple of bedclothes

I sleep with a moth,
innocuous butterfly,
beautiful as a calla-lily.