AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a Sestina that I wrote this past year for my portfolio work. I hope you enjoy it.

i like to watch you when you sleep.
the slight shudder when you take breath,
a twitch that shows me that you dream,
no thoughts in my mind save one,
that you're with me this night.
the feeling lasts forever.

it's a long time, forever.
a long wave of sleep
as smooth-flowing as day becoming night,
mustily clinging to our breath
as ideas grow solid one by one,
the mortar to build the dream.

it's obvious we're in the dream;
it goes on forever,
and it's seldom the one
you wanted when you went to sleep,
but with each passing breath
sinking deeper into the warm, inviting night.

but it ends when night
abates, breaking the once-powerful dream,
leaving you short of breath,
as if you wanted to stay there forever.
no more time for sleep.
no dreams until the next one.

sliding through each moment one by one,
remembering the melody of the night,
leaving all thoughts of sleep
wafting away as if a dream,
forever,
as the day passes with each breath.

eventually they slow, each breath
deeper than the one
that came before. the moment lasts forever,
becoming one with the night
you conjured the dream,
the magic of sleep.

i breathe deep this night,
forever hoping to catch a glimpse of the dream
we lived as i watched you sleep.