I used to read them all the time,

and then one day

they began to pour out of my mind

always looking

always trying to find the right rhythm

then one day,

in a fit of tears I realized

I couldn’t feel the words I wanted,

or I couldn’t hear the passion,

or I knew that life was just not the same,

so the words,

the beauty of such sensuality,

an erotic dream,

an imagined fantasy,

beautiful story in lovely minds,

her eyes, his physique,

their anonymous unbridled sexuality

were no longer mine

to create

inside the mystique of my own quiet beauty

her beauty,

her unimaginable humility,

her remarkable silence

has given me reason

to know love is forever,

yet, I will not travel in the same surreptitious

lanes I once found comforting,

I’ll alone

know there is truth in the elegance of a word.