Close My Eyes - Ghazal Poem by Patti Masterman

Please, ancient universe, just let me close my eyes
Sleep lingering in empty wineglass, close my eyes

Children of the street, singing in syllabled rhymes
Imagine they're horses eating grass, close my eyes

Affairs of men, hurry along the laggart world
Their lives are smoking censors of brass: close my eyes

Words getting spoken, from where do they arrive?
Strange tales spring up and come to pass, so close my eyes

Flowers wed the sun, moon weds reluctant virgins
Things unspoken then they break like glass, close my eyes

I once gave you a present, now it's gone away
We make much of things that never last, close my eyes

Touch me, and a thousand ghosts are reawakened
They live in this moment, and the past, close my eyes

Give me watered tears, once the wineglass has broken
This woman will turn into ash. Then close my eyes