Sarah

I want to take her picture

Capture her

Make permanent the constant change

Of her eyes

Bluegreygreengold--

Soot ashes, delicate as dust

Frame a world all her own.

There are rose petals

Falling where lips would be

I study, I'm caught

Falling where love would be

In the shadows

Purple blue

Of her cheeksbones and under her jaw

Where her hair feathers

Drips, waves like ebony rain

Rippling against her small shoulder

She is sculpted in silk and wind

So tiny, light

Light a bird, weightless and fragile

I think I'd like to touch her--

For an instant, cup her carefully in my palms

But I'm afraid I'd break her

Crumble at my clumsy touch

Such a shimmery soap bubble deity