All things beautiful
I cannot put you into rhyme
You would refuse to go there
Having once said, “If you can describe love . . . . It isn’t”
And you are the same
I cannot dress you in words and do you justice
Adjectives fall upon themselves in the effort
And metaphors mumble in confusion
While searching for comparisons
Because you were the source of it all
All things must be compared to you
And beauty should have bowed when you passed
Your smile was never like the sunrise
Rather, the sunrise imitated your smile
And when I saw stars reflected in your eyes
The stars were made more beautiful
Some men are correct to offer the compliment
“You look beautiful in that dress”
That was inappropriate with you and I would gasp
“That dress looks beautiful on you”
The standard of all things lovely lived in you
And with a glance the sister nymphs danced
And all was well in the kingdom of my soul
And so it is now . . . . now that you are gone
When leaves whisper about the wind
I know they gossip of why I walk alone
Why my arm reaches for the empty space beside me
And crickets spread rumors across the night
Even the streamlet frog grunts his agreement
Because without you all things beautiful
Depend upon each other for definition
And grow lonely in the task
And I am composed of memories, nothing more
Repeating them like butterflies going home
