Laid Asleep
“we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul.”
~ William Wordsworth
If laid asleep beside each other, we
Might find some rest at last. We never laid
In doubled love. Love’s serendipity
Was theoretical, more troubled shade
Than darkest depths that devils share in bed.
You now are laid asleep in body, gone
To otherwhere. Dark curlings on your head
Are represented by one lock upon
The sheet beneath my pillow. Had we lain
Beside each other in that gasp and sweat
Called life, some part of you would leak its stain
Upon the sheet of heaven, but mere fret
Is all that lingers. We were never whole,
Did not become one lusting, living soul.
~ Phillip Whidden