Reflection

i watch her silently
call to her quietly
she is poetry

i watch her watch herself
she is so beautiful
she just doesn’t know it yet

she cries silent tears
as she looks at herself
she thinks she’s ugly…
i don’t see it that way

i silently wipe the tears from her face
softly caress her cheek
and i realize that …

i love this woman
the way she moves
how her chest heaves as she
breathes deeply in her sleep
the way her eyes light when she’s happy
and i love the sound of her voice when she sings to me
i love this woman and
begin to see her differently
i memorize the shade of her eyes
and the way they glisten under light
i softly run my fingers through her hair
and memorize the scent of it
i lightly rest my hands on her cheeks
and slowly feel her face so that
i can memorize every line, every curve, every mark & scar
she is a shining star in my eyes

i closely examine her soft black tresses as they kiss her neck
after she lets her hair fall to her shoulders
i close my eyes and allow my hands
to navigate my journey over the course of her body
i silently paint a picture of goddess in my mind
my fingers learn her shape, her curves, bumps…everything about her is poetry

i want so badly to have her with me, in me on me…
i want her to be my skin
covering me in love like a warm blanket on cold winter nights
i softly grasp her hand and hold it to my heart so i can absorb her touch into me
i want her to feel how she makes me come alive
she quietly asks me “do you think i’m pretty?”
i whisper back to her “yes”
“i feel so ugly”, she whispers
“but you are so beautiful” i say in return
we go back & forth like this for hours
she finally asks me, “do you love me?”
and i say “with all that i am and hope to be”
“i feel so alone”
“but you’re not” i reply
“i don’t see it like you do”
“then come with me”

slowly, she extends her hand toward me as i break the glass
take her hand, kiss it softly
and we walk away from the mirror, together

©2001, D. Andrews, all rights reserved.