A luster so magnificent,

It blinds my eyes.

I marvel at his shine.

His calm is but an expression,

For profound emotion surges behind his pupils.

But there is no darkness

In the orbs of the first man I ever loved.

Words of kindness surround me

As I twirl around in silken fabric.

A father’s melodic laugh

Chirps like a flittering bird

At the growth I’ve suddenly embraced.

His hand holds mine as we dance

To the vibrato of a violin.

My stretched cheeks

Ache in a glorious pain.

The warmth of his palm,

And his fingers clasping mine

Hold not just my trembling hand,

But my tendered heart.

I press my head

Against the soft fabric of his shoulder.

Everyone looks on,

Marveling at our strides with moist eyes,

At the beauty of a father and his daughter.

I see them not,

For all I sense is the laughter

He brings to me.

His words are my world,

His irises,

Like the glimmering stars.

—————————

But light cannot always be,

Especially when my lashes flutter open

To the dim reality that has always been.

The moon has lost its glow,

And the stars have ceased to shine.

Awakened, I cannot remember if they ever have.

Darkness consumes me

And I can no longer see

The first man to have broken my heart.

The liquid spills over the brims

Of eyes that have seen everything.

They splash against the skin of palms

That have touched nothing but the empty air.

His warmth encapsulates me not,

I don’t think it ever has.

His pupils are but a figment of my mind,

A view I truly know not of.

I had hoped to find his shoulder

With my flushed but softened cheek,

But all that presses against my skin

Is the dampened fabric of my pillow.

—————————

I close my eyes again,

Torn of what I wish to view.

You see,

Dreams are marvelous creations.

They show us what we desire,

And also,

Of what can never be.

-Kiran Bains Sahota