Wiles & Reputation

I etch love letters with the tips
                    of my fingers
       I’ve lined your armor thin with time
  There’s several cacti in the desert
          more beautiful than I, yet
         
   [We don’t see, you don’t see
                   that Queen of the Night]
            & it must be such a privilege
              to wander your village in any time
                 or space

        I imagine the curves of your face
        & where it might be rigid through age
            but smooth /though soft
   I hope your eyes
                  have never changed
                  like a distant remote lake,
              UNtouched by thrashing fate
          Wisdom gained, never cancelling
                              their gentle wonder
              
                 I think you’d wish the same

–LM