I Watch as You Sleep

Keith Wiley

20001114

I watch as you sleep,
Lieing naked on the sheets,
Your body bowed in elegant curves.

My pencil hovers lightly above a blank sheet of paper,
Ready to render you immortal,
But I wait, looking, absorbing, taking you into myself.

I observe the motion of your breath,
Your body swells peacefully,
Like a sail catching the wind.

Your form bends with the motion of borrowed air,
All points along you moving to a position of momentary hesitation,
Then released, and settling bad into relaxed solitude.

There is a serenity in your unconsciousness,
A vulnerability in your nakedness.
Yet a calm strength in your unresolving confidence.

It draws me. The pencil twitches in my hand,
Itching to get to work,
But I continue to stare, to study, to steal another glimse,
Watching as you sleep.

My gaze wanders to your face,
Hidden slightly behind loose wisps of hair.
Resting as spiderwebs against your cheek.

Your eyes are partially hidden behind teasing strands,
And I wonder for just a moment,
If you are staring back at me.

Your lips are bent in a thin smile,
And I wonder what you are dreaming about,
Is it me, for I dream of you constantly.

I decide that today I won't draw you,
I put down the pencil and paper,
And continue to saturate my eyes with you,
Watching as you sleep.