Poem: The Sweeetness In You

The Sweetness in You

I know how fragile life is.
Breath preciously taken in and carefully given out again.
You are a living rhythm of earth’s waves, tides, seasons.

Your heart, a delicate flower
Opening and closing its valves within a golden cage of bones.
A miracle each moment. Every time.

I adore your skin, its intricate capillaries peaking through
And blue veins like ribbons
Feeding every inch of you.

I fully acknowledge the mercy of life:
The gifts of cloud and sea and field
To our unworthy eyes and hands.

Water from the well.
Sun on the sand.
Life is good! So good. So good.

And things—the stuff of society:
Jewels and sweaters and heels and purses,
Lamps and radios and rubber tires…
All of it I appreciate more than you could understand.
The hands that made. The minds that planned.
The dreams that originated every wish that became
A thing to use, to want, to have.

From the silver thimble my great grandmother used
To the gleaming granite countertop I polish with joy—
All of the things of life are sweet.

But none is as precious as warm skin with fine hairs and freckles.
…The flower of the heart opening and closing its valves.
…Blue ribbons coursing through you.
…The breath of life taken in... most of it given back.

Be life with me!
Even more fragile than things.
Be precious gift of warm blood and bones.

Be aware with me
That the things we create wither
As easily as life escapes the delicate skin of the dead.

But as long as rosy cheeks flush with hope,
The joy of you is complete without a thing.

Let them take the house.
Let the items I have treasured slip away...
Bring me your splendor caged in bones,
That glorious mind that sparks with light.
The life of you… mine for the giving of mine to.

Nothing extra needed, dear.
No thing, but the sweetness in you
Which decorates the sweetness in me
Better than any thing.

1-18-2007
Galen Warden