Love and Beauty

How we yearned for the earth to

release, to let go its weightless

gold and allow the revelation to

 

fill our souls. And suddenly it

bloomed, parchment leaf by

parchment leaf shimmering in

 

the light until our whole world

brimmed with the treasures of

unfolding fall. In those sweet

 

autumn days we walked in gold,

breathed in gold, drank gold,

became greedy for its glimmer.

 

How we laughed in the sun and

imagined the days unending. I

lay my whole heart open wide

 

before this glorious site and

pondered love and beauty for

only love could create such an

 

array. I measured them inch for

inch and weighed them pound

for pound, and tried to compress

 

and fold them into the same size

boxes. But here on the brink of

of cold, gray, barren winter, with

 

this fading dream—gold and

scarlet turning to dusty brown

scraps and stark bones in waiting, I

 

know that I know that

love is not beauty.

It’s just not.

©Bonnie Saul Wilks

Lake City, Colorado