Looking About
Beautiful women -
girls - children -
wherever I've been
this long life of mine -
they've captured my eye,
made it gleam, made my day
with - maybe their smile
(usually not to me) -
or a surprising
symmetry maybe -
or gracefulness
in motion or at rest.
Foreheads, cheekbones, shoulders,
other protruberances,
the long curves of
torso, flank, thigh and calf;
short-stepping Asians,
striding Australians,
midriff glimpses
of sari ladies' bodies.
Even the minimised faces
behind burqa and hijab.
They make going out
and looking about
worthwhile. They needn't
see me, not these days -
I'm past that stage.
Whatever their age,
and the older I get
(I'm the local paper's 'sept-
uagenarian poet')
the wider my eyes roam,
smiles beguile more,
wrinkles repel less.
My wife by my side
constantly reminds:
'beauty is just youth,
and soon it's gone.'
That's not the whole truth,
though it's one of hers
since ever so young.
Her own beauty endures...
though she keeps saying
no-one notices her any more.
I have to remind her
of the eye of this beholder.
At home with her now
much more than not,
I don't need always to go out
to be looking about.
When we're out, it's a trip
of shared connoisseurship.
If only she'd been with me
just now in the park -
my dog stole the ball
of a dog whose mistress
had the most gorgeous smile
and auburn hair. Wrestling
the ball from my dog's jaws
to give it back, brought me close
to lovely smiling
tolerant eyes.
Max Richards
------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent from Netspace Webmail: http://www.netspace.net.au
|