InfatUation

You remind me of lace.
Such long, hard work went into your perfection.
Your dark eyes, hardened by what
They have seen.
Hard, like the way you pronounce each syllable with
A sharp cluck of your tongue.
I know all there is to know about you,
I have studied your soul from across this room,
It swims to the surface of those large, heavily lashed eyes,
As you talk of love and lust and loss,
Three things you are all too familiar with.
I know the story of your life,
I have read it in the lines etched on your face,
Resembling the dried Earth hours after a desert  storm.
You are like that land, Saturated and filled
With the life water that evaporates too soon.
There is something missing in you,
And there is something missing in me too.
I ponder the thought that we might heal each other,
One winged birds that can only fly
By embracing one another.
But you catch me watching you, evaluating you,
As I am guessing at the outcome of  the possibilities
Circling my mind.
And you smile at me as if to say,
“ You’ve been staring at me for too long.”
So I decline my eyes from yours,
And keep my tongue between my lips,
Instead of between your own.
Because kisses stem from friendships,
And friendships stem from hellos.
And you are always gone before
I have gathered enough strength to introduce myself.
You exit before I can even enter.