Magic Carpet Ride

We are on a magic carpet ride,
On an undulating road of cloud,
We are sailing through jade jungle halls,
Over emerald shade, green light grown walls,
Over seashell sparkles and opal streams,
Our hair kissed about in the gold sunbeams.

'Round towers and torrents of cloud we fly,
Our wild spirits soar like the birds of the sky,
And, the span of our wings is as wide as the sea,
   For I am in love with you,
     With you,
   And, you are in love with me.

An indigo light,
Floods the sky of our night.
The moon follows soon,
As a worn, silvers sphere,
She smiles like a mermaid,
A soul hovering near,
In an octopus cloud,
Spun of dark mist and swirls,
Medusa's hair shining with snake spittle's curls,
And, the span of our wings is as wide as the sea,
   For I am in love with you,
     With you,
     Oh, with you,
   And, you are in love with me.

At night we fly soft,
Through the cool Milky Way,
On the warmth of the winds,
Through the sparkling day.
You and I are there dreaming ones.
We are the drifters,
The whispering wind-waifs,
The ghosts of shape shifters.
We are the wandering, wondering nomads,
The pilgrims of spinning-skies wild open roads,
The green flash of sunset, the purple moon's nodes.
We are children of all but forgotten stars,
Blue-green dreams of Neptune,
Red kisses of Mars.
We are made dizzy by dancing with the rainbow,
Flying with griffins above laughing trees,
By humming in clouds where the bright thunder seethes,
And, breathing the air that the sky giants breathe.

The silver sea shimmers,
Sea glimmers,
Grows wet,
Under our feet,
And, the heat,
And, the butterflies rise,
To a wondrous size.
They glow in our eyes,
And, their flash conjures visions,
Of velvet disguise,
Of orchid brushed breeze,
Of thin, cloud-whisp trees,
Of sky-haloed heron,
And, jasmine kissed bees.
When we come back to land,
Put your hand in my hand.
With hearts still in the sky,
Let's make love in the sand,
   For I am in love with you,
     Oh, with you,
   And, you are in love with me.

[1962]

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i saw the year on this poem...and it reminds me of my sixties...and what love was then....and how that moon was like mermaid...looking down and smiling as she swam in the sky.

as steppenwolf sang, "you don't know what we can find, why don't you come with me little girl, on a Magic Carpet Ride"

what a wondrous love poem.

j.

[Vishuddha]

Thank you, Jacob. Youth is a wonderful time and nothing quite like being young and in love. All full of magic. Glad you enjoyed the ride.

[Avinash]

This brought me back to my childhood when I used rush from school to watch another episode of 'Aladdin'.
Jasmine was one of the first crushes of my life and it was an escape to another world and yes so is your poem.

[Vishuddha]

Being from a more primitive generation all my magic carpet rides were from literature, my dreams or my or imagination. Perhaps love is, as you say, an escape to another world. How delightful when we can escape together and spend time together in another world, beyond just necessity and maintenance, into beauty, adventure and romance.

[Avinash]

What is life without beauty, adventure and romance...

[Vishuddha]

Boring ...

[Rudi J.P. Lejaeghere]

I see this is an older poem of yours. Reading your poems is always travelling; they are so descriptive and full of images. Never thought of publishing them in a collection? I think they are little gems, Lily. You've got a special style that I like very much. Thanks for sharing this poem. :) Rudi

[Vishuddha]

You say the nicest things! Thank you. Of course I have thought of publishing. All writers think of publishing! I just haven't gotten around to it. I have much older poems. Check out Antigua or The Gray Bird on the Beach, both from 1962 which is about when I started to write.

[marcus]

A magic carpet ride of the soul, into love..

[Vishuddha]

Of course. Where else would a magic carpet ride take you to?

[andrew mitchell]

What magical lines you have used on thie epic write of a ride. I love " in an octopus cloud, spun of dark mist and swirls

[Vishuddha]

Living by the sea, as I did at the time of this writing, does put some curious images in the mind. I rather liked that image myself. I suspect I have used this image in another poem as well but, I don't recall which one. I'm hoping to find it sometime when I'm dusting.

[Robert]

A very descriptive poem with good word selection. I was if I was watching a movie with your writing here, A very good piece I believe his one is.

[Vishuddha]

Wish I could make movies because visuals are more powerful than words but, this will have to do. Thank you.

[Marie]

What a wonderful carpet ride this. I would never want to come back.

[Vishuddha]

I haven't come back yet although things do change. Now I do carpet cleaning and vacuum as well as all the other stuff.