34. Amor platonicus

"Spring is Officially Here" by Hazel Berger

Could stand here, ages,
praising such beauty:
hair spun of gold,
eyes carved of lapis
lazuli;
wasting away,
immortalizing you into
posterity.

But you know this –

you are not
like a wildflower,

desperately beautiful,
basking in sun-charms,
unaware of
how lovely you are.

We pick flowers,
letting them die at our hands,
withering for our possessive admiration.
Instead, everywhere you go
I die a little
knowing it must just be:
this –

Georgia Wildflower by Hazel Berger

33. Depuis le jour

Moon Over Lake Almanor (image credit)

Since the day
your beauty startled me
the sun alights more softly on the world;
the air floats sweeter on my lips.

But in the naked night,
without the tender masks of day,
the world seems emptied of such joys.
Alone amidst the mediocre oxygen,
I gaze upon the turbid skies
with fervent lonesomeness
and wonder –

Do moons, as such,
Construct oppressive scenes
Upon the soul?
or is it,
stripped of worldly follies,
bathed in chaste Veritaserum,
I feel the chilling
truth?