SAMPLE POEMS – The River-Fed Stone <--back to main samples page

PATHS ON A FACE

It comes to a point
    when the smoothness of a face
    doesn’t tell me so much
    as the story of a line
    that rolls from the corner of your mouth
    to the side of your chin.

I want to know about the smiles
    that, over time, created the line
    much as tiny fissures in a cliffside
    opened from ice, heat and time
    to form the part of a canyon
    visitors flock to photograph.

I want to know about the creases
    honeycombing from the sides of your eyes,
    a million tears of joy and woe
    sliding across your silken skin
    like a river riding bedrock and tumbling stones
    in its melting current, its release.

I want to know about the furrows
    lining your forehead like waves
    birthed ten thousand miles away,
    your thoughts riding a vision
    that illuminates your eyes
    as only a moment of revelation can do.

I want to know about the looks
    you give me from eyes slowly receding
    behind brows and sockets
    sacred as grottoes of unspeakable grace,
    portals of silence and secrets
    calling me to join in your dance.

I want to know about the way
    the lines on your face connect
    when they measure a love
    so deep within you
    that the layers of your heart
    burrow into the infinite to feed and rest.

It comes to a point
    when the paths on your face
    may affect your definition of spotless beauty,
    but like rock formations and seascapes
    of greatest composition and light,
    no one can take their eyes off you.