ONCE

Once you were beautiful to me
when the leaves were full on the trees
when I dried my clothes by summer breeze
and with the air of breaking dawn moist upon my lips
I must have forgotten beauty fades with age.

Once I was beautiful to you
and we, naked as trees in winter lay
in passionate embraces,
trying to cross the limits of time
and still finding something left behind.

Once we were beautiful
in those early hazy morning hours
and the dreams we held so tightly
were as real as the warmth we gave
against the freezing cold
that crept in through the cracks in the floor.

Once I could look into your eyes
and imagine the world was beautiful
and a mere touch sent me into happiness
and there was never any truth at all
in saying that I could let go
of the warm, humid hours of semi-darkness
or of the long nights of numbing cold when there was no need
for thermal underwear.

Once you and I were beautiful
when the sky was our canvas and we recklessly
painted our dreams in cobalt blue
sprinkled them with random dashes of velveted crimson
sprayed them with tiny specks of moon silver
and outlined them with flowing streams of 24K gold...
creating a work of art that was so beautiful

that we could not touch it.



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