Sestina

Against the windowpane the rain
Falls, waking her from sleep
She knows in the morning
She will greet a new life
But she won’t promise to go happily
Or without a fight

Oh, how she will fight
Like the sun with the rain
Right now she lives happily
Listening to him sleep
She can’t leave him for her new life
But soon it will be morning

When the sun rises in the morning
The storm will lose the fight
And, for now, end the life
Of the persistent, heavy rain
Tonight she cannot sleep
Knowing she will not wake happily

For no one could rise happily
With the light in the morning
They, too, would refuse to sleep
With minds racing of the fight
To be had, like the struggle for life
Between the sun and the rain

Her thoughts pause to listen to the rain
She knows he’s dreaming happily
Unaware how his life
Will change in the morning
On her own she will fight
Unwilling to interrupt his sleep

She longs to hold him and sleep
But her mind refuses to forget the rain
And her inevitable fight
That she prays will end happily
How long until morning
And the end of this life?

Now the rain is humming her to sleep
And she happily curls into him, for a moment forgetting life
Soon it will be morning and she will remember her fight.