Thursday, May 11, 2006

I've seen only in photographs

For a secret moment
watching you coming
wrapped in yourself
a reflective soap bubble
afloat on the stream
of the day-end crowd
I regret not having
met that younger you
I've seen only in
photographs
whose colours
now fade with age;
wearing dated hair,
younger clothes
and a careless
untested surety
she's a young beauty
bearing passing likeness
to you who are,
but, I think, her
less-formed face
didn't carry
a day's weight
in the way of yours,
whose fine lines
and deeper shadows
show the slow care
of tempering days
and wear of years.

Nearing, you look up
in pickerel-quick
recognition
and the bright
splashing arc of
your grinning mischief
the ringing gleam
of that electric laugh
relight and recast
suddenly soften
all of you
in iridescence
and I'm grateful
this strong pull
that I feel for you
was never
can never be
about unshared youth's
untried prettiness;
but for a face that
even when silent is
more generously beautiful
than that younger you
in those photos
ever knew to be
and I love you
for your well-worn wisdom
and for finding me here
in this space and time.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahhh!!! This made me feel so sad, and yet good, too. Have I ever mentioned you have a way with words?

coyote said...

Thank you, Nonny; but why sad? What we look for in love necessarily deepens over time; I think that the attraction of later character may more than make up for that of youthful but unformed beauty. But mind you, I'm a coyote. And have accused myself once or twice of being an unreliable narrator.

Anonymous said...

Wow.
I was going to say fucking amazing (poem) (I've seen only in photograhps) but am not sure if I should swear in someone else's blog.
Glad to find your blog.
Mona

coyote said...

Hi, Mona; thanks. And I believe I use an occasional emphatic anglo-saxon monosyllable here and there myself... come back anytime.

DayDreamer said...

Touchingly melancholy and sincere. Impressive.