Ode to a Nose
"...had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed.”
~ Blaise Pascal, on Cleopatra's Nose
I’m glad for mine.
The long, aquiline
form of it.
The way it has shaped,
informed my face;
how I’ve faced myself,
in the world,
and how the world
has seen, sensed me.
A nosefor all seasons.
Sensitive receiver,
perceiver
of subtleties and reveries.
Indelible marker
of now and ancient
character.
Raised prow
cutting confidently
through daily sweet
and salty waters.
Airstreamed cone
navigating near
and distant atmospheres.
Sensor of sensuality,
savoring everything,
from wines to ocean winds;
and being savored;
even sometimes,
sometimes deliciously,
enamored.
Colin Goedecke
Morristown, New Jersey
December 2016
