I don't think you've ever seen
or noticed
the way your hair fluffs in the afternoon breeze
stray pieces wandering
like little fairies
sparkling and bouncing in gold
embraced by the rays of
the dying sun

I now realize
you never really will
notice
see
feel
what I do
when I think
of you

you look into me
and my heart is marbled
caught in those lovely eyes of yours
and it feels
so safe
so kind

only it isn't, and
my marbled heart is shattered
by the winds
smelling of water and leaves
carried away
by fleeting memories
like pages of a book, fluttered and closed
and somehow your lovely, lovely eyes
now strip my heart of its
safe
kind
shine

leaving it raw, aching, burning, exposed
to the unforgiving waters
beneath our feet

too violent to preserve
my fragile love for you

and too merciless
to pity
your precious
light

but I now realize
I
was the one
too merciless, violent
too helpless


to preserve, to save
what I knew
would


shatter