IT STARTED WITH US WALTZING

It started with us waltzing

on the deck of an ocean liner

Then, looking over the edge, we

saw our reflections in the water

But instead of seeing ourselves

we saw an Egyptian king & queen

And the sea was flat and silvery

like a mirror

And then the mirror shattered

into nineteen billion pieces

And each piece was the page of a book that

Andromeda was reading

Then there was lightning

( lightning the color of grape flavored gum )

Then there was music

( music that came from a moon within the moon )

And then there was silence

But in between the silence we could

hear the locusts buzzing

( rising and falling — were

we standing in a palace made of neon lights? )

We held each other's hands

as stars fell from the sky

Then tenderly you whispered

your wish in my ear

And the universe started all over again

( bursting like the petals of a wildflower )

And I think we got to live again

But I can't be sure

For I was awoken

by the beating of a sunbeam's heart