Secret Path To The Heart

I.
A stray ray escaped the blanket of leaves;
swirled with the Brownian motions of dust;
caught the arch of an arm, the reach.
Two fingers, bill of a crane,
grasped a cherry petal —
stole it from the black mirrored
surface. Left nary a ripple, slipped away
before the breeze rustled the reeds.

It was then that she saw me.
Smiled. Drew the petal
across her lips. I followed the path
the cherry vessel launched up the water.
The light blinked out, leaf shuttered.
She was gone.

II.
Memories arrange themselves
in support of present needs.

I followed her laughter,
‘til lost in a maze,
where lilies grazed, orchids dozed
and I was caught in my foggy web —
dreams unparsed
love, a bed unmade.

III.
Spring’s last days cast against drifts,
cherry snow, piled in memories.

I saw her next
in the aviary --
a swirl of feathers and chirrups
rising up into the light
then a shadow beneath a wing
and gone.

IV.
“Is this seat taken?” I heard the smile.
First day of seasonable weather
the Cafe was crowded.

I looked up from my book,
put down my coffee.
“Of course, I replied.”

“It was the only one available,
I think I might know you.
I hope you don’t mind.”

Serendipity, merely coincidence
or the arrows of Eros finally
drawing away the curtain of pain
caused by their piercing?