"Pretty Words"

.

When I think of you

my mind is drawn to pretty things—

crystal water flowing through a marble basin,

the scent of jasmine in a night garden

with rows of golden lanterns lighting

a pathway through the trees. I think of a white palace

filled with silken luxury and golden decadence.

…

When I hear your voice

I suddenly remember pretty memories—

The time we were in Italy together,

basking in a white light on the beach,

listening to the turquoise Mediterranean

splash up on our feet. I remember the echoes

in Pontius Pilate's cave, or my heels clacking

along the streets of Rome in the heat of May.

…

When I leave you

after hours, or days, or months

of being together without pause

I am inspired to write pretty words—

words like love, words like want and need,

words that mean I miss you. If I am apart from you

I cannot hold back from writing pretty words

and shaping them into pretty poems

in which I reminisce. Can you see

that you are the water and I am the jasmine,

that our love is the palace, and our love is rich?

Can you see that I carve a poem from pretty words

meant to woo you, meant to prove my feelings?