Why do you think people watch their loved ones sleep? I have my own reasons.

When I woke up in the middle of a night, there she was right beside me, sleeping peacefully. The beaming light of the silver moon from the heavens came in through the window, and fell upon her, from head to toe. Time stood still as I inspected every inch of her face. Her eyelids slightly creased, the moles formed an equilateral triangle above her left eye. As she inhaled and exhaled softly, her body generated a rhythm of its own. Strands of her ebony black hair swayed along as the cool breeze caressed her gently like a painter’s stroke. She had eyes made of opal, a body of a nymphet, heart of a little girl, and the wit of a fool. She looked utterly innocent and vulnerable in her sleep.

Never had I ever observed her so well, for so long, and without any explanation. There was something immensely peaceful and warm about watching her sleep. I reached for her face, planted a gentle kiss on her temple and watched her subconscious respond. That is when her REM kicked in. I hoped that she was dreaming of lush meadows, sparkling mountains, and of settled lakes that shimmered under the rays of the mellow sun.

When I ran my finger under her dainty nose, I could feel the warm air she so quietly exhaled-enough to send ripples through my heart. Time stood still, almost as if everything about her serene slumber hypnotised me. She was probably her truest self at that moment—fearless, unaffected and at the depth of her oblivion. Innately attractive, every inch of her had me engrossed. Nothing about her seemed flawed.

I climbed off the bed and walked up to the window. I smiled at the moon drifting in that calm summer starlit sky, and it smiled right back at me. When I looked back at my love, her hair was a beautiful mess. I felt like I could listen to her all night long.

With every passing moment I felt ever more captivated. I went back to her and held her hands in mine. As her pulses synched with my heartbeats, I closed my eyes for a while and took a deep sigh. Then a sad realisation hit me. The beautiful love of my life, that was right in front of me at the moment, wouldn’t live forever. Neither would I. Like everything else in this world, we’d eventually disappear into the dark.

I felt a heavy weight fall on my heart replacing the initial tranquility. A lump formed in my throat.

 I thought to myself: But love is an endless ocean. It has neither a beginning, nor an ending. It transcends the boundaries of life and death. Even after death, our love would remain to paint memories as it danced in the wind. 

Would she ever know the compassion that I felt for her from the deepest bottom of my heart?

I opened my eyes to look at her again. She looked as fragile as a snowflake falling from the sky, like a dew drop on a leaf at dawn, like buds in early spring, and like a water bubble floating in the void. So fragile that a single touch could wipe her out, tear her down. It broke me apart.

She slept like a child all night long, completely oblivious to any of my words or actions. All I wished to do was seize the night and accompany her in her peaceful slumber while I still could.

But unable to, I walked over to my desk and wrote:

From both your eyes, from your nostrils

From both your ears and from your chin

Forth from your heart and mind

And from your tongue

I’ll drive your malady away

From what is voided within,

From strands of your hair

And from tip of your nails,

From all yourself top to toe

I’ll drive your malady away

Ill thoughts and nightmares

Will no longer visit you

Even in the darkest of nights

Sleep with the silver moon

Rise with the burning sun

Now spread your wings

And fly with the birds

Under the bluest of the skies

Croon in the early mornings

And take a man’s blues away

Flow with the rivers

And gather the streams

Down from the hills and mountains

Let flowery grass spring up

Let there be lakes with lotus blooms

Drift with the clouds

And the blowing wind

Without a destination

To the faraway deserts

And fill up the oasis