I Found You Sleeping

​I found you sleeping
And I fretted for your safety
I wanted to protect you
But then I fretted for my own

I could do nothing for you
So traveling on, I went
But I could not forget you
And the path before me was shaped by the memory of you

The purpose for which I started
had then been replaced
The impression you left changed me;
I was not trying to be kind

And when I thought I could finally help you
I learned the worst had already come

I found you sleeping
And I admired your restful beauty
I wanted to protect you
to preserve your symbolic form

I made a home of glass and stone
so you could slumber undisturbed
But mostly so I could remember that...

I found you sleeping 
And there was beauty all around
And that I still wanted to protect you 
even in death

My first wet specimen: I found a dead snake on the walking path outside my work. I felt a very strong desire to preserve its body.