beauty

is it not that which is untouchable
unreachable
ungettable
for once gotten
touched and tasted
beauty fades
the magnificent peak rendered to mere emotion
the soft, terrible power of her lips
now mere words
mere salty tongue
mere breath
not magic or passion or powerful powerful poetry
not geometry, symmetry
because a kiss is after all
all that beauty is
the kiss of life
of love
also, the kiss of death

is beauty not
our own, homegrown
recognition
of that tick tock perfection
wound up in ourselves
we depart from it,
in our adorations, adaptations
the search for another
that departure from ourselves
when beauty departs from us
and once more
golden beams
on rainy days
white cotton wrapped taught over breasts
a wife's breasts, but not my wife
palm freckled beaches
far from here
raindrops pecking desert sanddunes
beyond the backyard
is it not when the unreachable is reached
that beauty smiles
fleeting
because of our distraction
our lack of discretion
inaction
tears and smiles pull together
cruelty
part of the wholesome whole
that is beauty