Three Pictures

                    I

What’s in a smile?
That which we call a mouth, lips, teeth,
Can blow a radiant kiss to a camera lens!
What’s in a face?
Dark eyes dance, though held
Still in the moment of a snapshot!
What more is in that face?
Simple, architectural arches –
Eyebrows, forehead, beautiful detail!
What’s in a woman?
My whole life, my whole love,
My muse, my dearest, deepest fantasy!
What’s in you?
I am, deeper than you realise;
You dream, but one day you will wake!

                    II

A sea-scape is lost in haze – only you are visible. Everything about you today is salt: your hair is a wild plantation of kelp, your lips open into the bight of your mouth or a sea-cave, your breasts are islands in the bay; lower, your belly is a smooth strand; lower still you open like an oyster, and I find you impearled; everything about you today is salt! I taste your salt, and I know it will stay in my mouth for days, and in my memory forever. I love you, and I show my love by lying beached for you. I am made of sea-cobbles, smoothed by your constant movement over me. Make me smoother still. Let your breakers wash over me until I climax into sand.

                    III

I see you hold a child,
You stand so strong and true
As if you held the world –
And in a sense you do.
A child is future’s light,
Our hope against the dark,
A beacon in the night
That grows to flame from spark.
I wish I was that child;
I’d welcome your embrace,
It’s strength, its nurture mild;
I’d gaze into your face.
But I am here alone,
A thousand miles away.
This picture’s all I have –
And I must face the day…