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