Lines Written Upon Seeing You Smile

OR BEWILDERMENT

I

I’ve seen angel-dust sooner rust
‘neath the watchful gaze of starlight,—
I’ve sat to watch their blaze fade into a light’ning world—,
and heard their extinguished sighs bleed colour into a newly lit morn;
I’ve seen angel-dust sooner rust than your smile lose a hint of its gleam.

II

I’ve seen the beauty of Day, in all Their reclining splendour
melt away into a rosy rest, half as brilliant as sun-kissed cheeks.
I spoke with Evening Sky, before She retreated to her dark canvas
  and said:

“immortal things, too, must rest,
for what would the rest of the world be
without a break every now and then.”

I then thought back; and as I looked up at Night Sky,
with His fiery daffodils that bloom freshly upon each eve,—
and if you’re lucky you’ll catch celestial dandelions letting float their racing seeds
  across the Dark, Dark, Dark— with cosmic shapeless hills and seas
Of dotted daffodils guising the tired state of Day and all Their constituents.

III

—I’ve seen that you are effortlessly yourself without rest—

IV

I’ve seen the universe fall into your hands.
I’ve watched its seams flex to the rhythm of your sinews,
  I’ve heard its warm heart; like breath on a cold morning
  I’ve felt the beating of timeless wings moving through space in a single motion.
    I’ve known your bones, blood, and cartilage
    To hold more history than a star’s lineage.

V

If I had any fraction
  Of power—
  If I could sway
  The shifting universe
  Out of the way—
So that you might be
  The sole thing
  Existence
  could rehearse on—
I would.

VI

But I can’t.

VII

Rather, I stand here
Before a palace of dimples and golden tresses— capped in azure,
With soft&gentle eyes that might challenge the hue of any dewy sky,
With sheets of laughter unfurling in a meek breeze…

Like dusk, when, with your permission,
It glows around you in strained painted light—
I ask if I, too, may be permitted
To be bewildered by this sight.