couple

 

By Jessie Jade Wright

 

The fan rustles
dried magnolia leaves
dangling from a piece of bamboo
in my bedroom.

Simple art created, and given freely to me.

The still life comes alive in the cooling breeze
on this summer eve in northern California.

Living in the golden hills of eternal sunshine
under blue skies,
I am tempered
tonight by the softness of clouds slowly moving
in from the West,
a surprise in this season of summer.

A Monet-like glow
as the sun sets
at the far northwestern edge of the horizon
shrouded behind layers of clouds,
so I won’t be able to see Venus and Jupiter about ready to kiss,
in that stunning pause before their stardust lips collide,
and the rest of the night sky
fades under their dramatic dance.

Their radiant union makes me wonder if loving
without others seeing the love
is underrated these days.

Why do
we need to blast images
of lips barely touching another?
Why do
we need to dramatize our relationship
for the world to see?
Why can’t
we settle into the feelings
of a brush along our arm
without creating a digital snapshot?
What if
we didn’t share those moments?
Would we
not feel it as strongly?
Would it
be less of a love if we didn’t have an audience?

Too many questions.

But I’ve learned:
it’s in the questioning
that we find our answers. Or maybe,
it’s in the living,
those soft kisses hidden from others,
that we fall
into our awareness. So go on,
steal a moment
of loving without sharing,
hiding the details
under the lavender pink veil of the evening’s sky.

 

Photo: (runningstripes/tumblr)

Editor: Dana Gornall

Comments

comments

Latest posts by Jessie "Jade" Wright (see all)