The Beggar

I looked at her, as I had looked at her kind, fleetingly.
Yet, in that instant, my eyes caught something.

I looked at her again.
Had she been….. Is she beautiful?

Was once when she made hearts, even one,
Beat with longing and expectation?

Does she know love,
To want and be wanted in return?

Where are her dreams,
The jewels she hung around her neck as Morpheus took her in his step?

Is there still lightness in her heart,
The sun that shines from within that uplifts and inspires?

I looked at her again
And all I saw was a shell.

What went so terribly that
Life carved cruel lines into her face?

I saw regret etched on her face,
Her body weighted by the world.

In her eyes glowed a longing,
A sickening desire for a quick end, methinks.

Or a miracle, any miracle
That would remedy all in a flash.

Wistful and beaten,
Off she shuffled to…..sit and wait.

Made too inhuman to offer naught
But a feeble plea

For alms, for grace
From a world too busy with itself.

I looked at her,
Then away.

Onwards once again,
Drawn into the oblivion of life.

(First appeared: http://wp.me/p2QwNA-dw)

Noni

Wallflower by night,
Temptress, woman by day.

In the quiet of the noise
And in the darkness of the light,

I saw her.
Poised regally,

Powerful in her stillness, her silence,
Nary seduced by her wine

Which stood subdued red
And cowardly before her.

The tendrils of her unspoken unwitting seduction
Caressed my inebriated soul.

I was drawn to her.
Inexplicably, inexorably.

Right there
I needed to touch her,

To take her in my embrace
And drown in her intoxicating essence.

I wanted her pain to become mine,
Us to ravish each other with abandon.

I could trace these words on her golden skin,
Make her sweat my ink.

Instead,
I drowned in dreams and drink.

Imaginings of what could have been
Blinding me to the moment.

In the end,
When the silence had killed the noise,
The earth stood still.

Yet, I still throbbed, as she still tugged.

(First appeared: http://goo.gl/gSYNKu)

The Smoker

She brought the cigarette to her lips,
Boldly, delicately,
Like a first kiss promised
and ready for delivery.
The grey turned to red,
Her cheeks drawn in
in anticipation,
Slowly squeezing life
out of the dead stark stick.
Her hand moved
contemplatively to the ash tray
And her finger tips
tap-tap-tap-danced for a fleeting.
A fervent romance.
Shaking off the past,
And out of her orifice of riches
Smoke ephemeral, ethereal.
I sat transfixed,
Doubting that the innocuous
devilry before me
Could turn me into a child.
 Beautiful in her arrogance,
Smug, assured,
She turned away slightly
in half-smile sardonic.
Poised in thought
For a moment she remained,
Soon the fire was back to her lips.
Dark, intense,
Mysterious, alluring,
She looks at nothing, seeing everything.
Aloof.
She seeks herself
out in darkness,
With red-tipped pen
between her fingers,
Her secrets written in smoke.
Nothing said, all said.
 I dare not approach her.
The light we shared has ebbed out,
Her cigarette a bitter metaphor.
Apt.
She glances,
Amused and mocking.
Before her sips liquid fire.
To cauterize the wounds within…?
 I am still drawn to her,
The ashes in my heart potent,
Their smokes blinding me.
I stumble in her wake.
She is smoke,
The present winds cannot her stand.
Is she real?
I don’t dream of her, I don’t hold her.
 The smoker has become
What she sought in refuge, in coolness.
Another passing, fickle.
Beautiful tragedy.
Finished, the butt’s tossed aside.
She tosses things aside.
Unself-consciously,
Used to tossing things aside.
 I take one more look.
 I walk away.
(First appearance: http://goo.gl/f7kI70)

The Lover

Every whisper is heart-breaking beauty,
Each tear a waterfall of raging emotion.
No wrong can she do,
No imperfection in his eyes.
She is the angel that makes gods green,
The maiden men only see yet cannot fathom.
Her sway is the very pulse of the universe,
Her voice is god’s own song.
She births dreams in her bosom
And in her breast they are brought to life.
She is the saint and the savior.
And in his enrapturement he is trapped.
Enslaved in his incomprehension,
He basks in his fulfillment of her caprices.
The lover…
(First appeared: http://goo.gl/3MLDa6)