I Dreamt You in the Garden

I Dreamt You in the Garden

Tamara Nicholl-Smith

(for Randy)

Before I even knew you, I first dreamt you.
Before there was not much more than conversation,
when you were mere suggestion from a friend,
when there was still another, who contended
for my attention, I, in my surprise,
dreamt you, dreamt us, in a walled garden, joined.

My dream foretold the hedge row's call, the ivy's
inviting whisper, and the sheltering trees.
This garden then, both church and bedroom. Mattressed
by the soft earth and singing soil, we were
skyclad beneath a flowering date palm, 
wedded, our fingers ringed and interlaced.

Before we touched, I dreamt you in the garden
and this is how I knew that I would love you.

---

Tamara Nicholl-Smith
Poet & Community Builder

Tamara’s poetry has appeared on two Albuquerque city bus panels, one Albuquerque parking meter, various radio shows, a spoken-word classical piano fusion album, and in publications such as the Mutablis Press anthologies Enchantment of the Ordinary and Chaos, Dive, Reunion, Kyoto Journal, The Examined Life Journal, Catholic Arts Today and America.  She is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Saint Thomas in Houston. She enjoys puns and likes her bourbon neat. 

Photography by Henri Prestes