He showed me lavendar-laced pathways kissed with shell-pink plums
blossoms shy and hesitant between the oaks
between the pebbled creek-washed slope and the dove-wing silver sky
White clouds that were not white!
...great nests of graying flotsam trapped in tangled branches dangling
...silhouettes of spiking wicked thorns as black as crows
...verdant psychedelic greens all gilded with vermillion dust
and riotous red epaulets on preening blackbird wings
He spoke of the significant line and the perfect wedding of color
electric passion sparking blue arcs of fire from his fingertips
expansive sweeps of simple vistas made exquisite
by the lingering glance of the painter's practiced eye
We walked there arm-in-arm in love and kissed beneath the fleeting sun
discovering sky and indolence between the hours
between the breathlessness of hope and hopefulness of you and I.
-- a poem for my sweetie