****

For ages, dearest, I saw your bare feet decorated in red

Bless the mud and the grass, when with lightning flash

Of almond eyes under bordered veil, you started, and fled

At my approach - nothing else you could do, the clash

Between propriety and love could last not more than an instant.

The former always won, but that moment, just that moment

Was sublime; in this world of change meant all that was constant.

Stars explode, continents split, dinosaurs die, in ever-new garment

The soul does itself clad. Thus I see you, mate throughout Time,

In this shopping mall, looking at me straight. Lovely things

Surround us. All efforts go to make us happy - artificial clime,

Beguiling lights upon crystal, clear water that sparkling springs...

This question I pose to souls of all sages past and present:

Woman's look long or quick - what causes more torment?

****

Do not turn away. I know I have been too true;

Such was ever my misfortune. So what if blunt words

Equate you not favorably to skies of pure blue,

Acres of lush green, sweetest songs of birds...

I have loved you most when the skies were gray,

With thunder and lightning, but pregnant with rain.

Mighty trees, and lofty palms, did beg and pray

For survival. You treated them with such disdain

As meets cringing supplicants. Love, on foaming

Angry seas at dead of night you were very near.

It was neither beauty nor quiet that your spirit roaming

Banished from my inner being all doubt, all fear.

May your voice and gesture make me bold upon bold!

Make leaders of men, now with hearts stone cold.

****

How did it all begin? Let me recollect.

First time I saw her, as impatient curtains parted

The room spun, the house rocked, stars darted

Away in haste. The Supreme One, the Select,

Entered in pink and silver, proud and erect,

To set me, is she wished, on courses uncharted.

Wits - stay - render me not unsmarted

With mouth wide agape, desire dashed, hope wrecked.

Twenty five years led but to this one meeting

With slim long haired girl of clear eyes and soul.

"Do you drink?" Lady, intoxication permanent

Was ever my aim. Be thus, pour your perfect whole

Without bubble into hallowed niche. Fleeting

Approval - stars exploded in the firmament.

****

How could you be more beautiful? There are those who could count

The ways. Their judgment is as deep and true as magazine covers.

Works of art wrought by sciences of calculation and deceit, the fount

Of modern commerce, could never yet win the hearts of true lovers.

What glossy paper ever held this gentle glow of smooth velvet skin?

What cameras art depicted such lucent transference of subtle mood?

Pensive chin poised on breast, sudden turn of head, were enough to win

Undying constancy. Much more is granted, to he who can lawfully intrude

Upon this hallowed and scented presence. Lilies are pale and useless -

Too much is made of roses - the moon is but a pock-marked land.

Editors and flatterers jump in social circles, chase money, court stress,

Sell illusions. Pure truth is beauty; this they can never understand.

Beauty such as yours cannot be described through nature, nor art.

Rising from both, tis expressed thus in the language of the heart.