Dream Poem  (for Sherry)

O Sherry, I'm lost,
I'm hopelessly lost
in this dark silence of the night,
as my thoughts run like dream fish
along your fingers,
you disappear in the ridges of the sky
like a phantom dissolved by moonlight,
beaming sorrow through my watery eyes,

There I sleep in a statuesque posture
on the ivory tusks of elephants,
I dream of you, I dream of the songs
of the past, I dream of a bright silver
key,
descending from your neck--

There is a door to your heart,
a secret to your soul underneath the
smooth, trembling skin,

Like a fish falling from the sky
into a golden goblet of strange wine,
I feel intoxicated by your mist,
breathing your purple veil,

Now I drop this goblet, now I spill the wine,
now I open the door
and I see a dark red rose
in your dark blue
water.
 

                               December 26, 1987
                            --Alexander Shaumyan