translating the night

the rain is tapping a love letter in morse code
upon my tin roof
while the moonlit magnolias send their regrets

to midnight, ivory cameo faces
masked beneath the flutter of their verdant fans,

and the stars are uttering solemn soliloquies
in their strange, silvery dialects.

as darkness applauds with satin hands,
my heart falls silent, listening to these
nonsense lullabies of the night,

and the moon says hello, hello.

a/n: as the world slumbers on, deaf to such beautiful, dead languages. june 9th, 2010.