The Hoofs of Pegasus

Chapter 38: ADAM ASLEEP

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About This Book

A collection of short lyrical poems that weave mythic and religious imagery with intimate observations of nature and interior feeling. Many pieces draw on classical figures and Renaissance art, while others reflect domestic scenes, sleep, music, and sacrament; recurrent motifs include night and light, birds, water, and ritual. Voice shifts between contemplative reverie and pastoral detail, exploring longing, faith, and creative impulse. The sequence moves through imagistic vignettes—moonlit meadows, bathing maidens, sacramental harvests, and dreams—linking private emotion to larger spiritual and mythical resonances.

ADAM ASLEEP

FAR away I hear the voices of four rivers flowing, Wings in the thicket, and the four winds blowing. Adam sleeps in Eden. In this still place I lie within his circling arm and look upon his face.

God walks in the garden when the day is cool, But the face of Adam is far more beautiful; He is like the splendour of the sun at noon, And the slope of his body like the white young moon.

Of what is he dreaming as he lies at rest? Of God in the Garden? Or Lilith’s breast? Adam sleeps in Eden, but down in the brake I watch the cool glitter of a painted snake.