to stare at her
for hours
while her shadow begins
to curl like trunks of smoke
on the wooden floor

to escape the heavy
brief pale
gaze of
strangers

to be close to her
as close tangled
irreversible
as hours are to years

to hear her voice
like the hieroglyph
of a flower
carved into the
speech of rocks

to touch her eyes
when the walls of the world
become calm timorous
mirrors

to face each other
and collide like antonyms
in the swelling unity
of love