Distance movement depth the wonder of space
First darkness, emptiness, nothingness then
light out of nowhere : and out of nowhere
life, then love
First flicker within cold stone,
breath that animates her soft diamond eyes.
Of paradise I cannot speak for I
have never been there, except insofar
as to have tasted love’s warm tissue on
her lips, somewhere in the world.
Beauty wastes through time
and even the dance of stars tires
but the simple grace of love is a be-
ing thing, a mutual indwelling that
rises above the sleeping world, that scorns
the moonlit music
of heaven’s soft silks
John Lyons