After A Spiritual Pillow Book

Not A Dream

You are an eagle.

You are intent on catching your prey. Claws extended, sinews ready for the kill, you want nothing more than to eat this mouse. You never hesitate, for you this is only natural: that you kill and the mouse be killed. As you close in on it, your shadow overwhelms the earth. All of life here stands still. The mouse, equally intent on surviving, is still running. In one fatal swoop, it is in your claws, already dead. As you fly away, everything settles back into place. The other animals are given a reprieve until the next time you feel hunger. They know it will be soon.

I Love You

He does not tell her this, though he has always wanted to. The way the light cascades down her back, the slight thrust of her hips when she walks, the fringe of hair that always falls sideways on her soft, yielding face - he takes these in every time he sees her, usually from a distance, because he is too afraid to talk to her. But he knows she likes him. She has given him the eye more than once, and her smile changes when he is in the room, from one of tired civility to general joy.

He continues to orbit around her, his planet revolving around her sun. He longs to defy the universe and break all the laws of nature and physics to touch her.