Tender Severity

the way the light fell
through my second hand curtains
and hit your face
turned me from girl
to poet

your sun dappled features
turned upward
greeting the warmth
the rays bouncing off
your irises
that were neither blue
nor green
but both

a mixture of two hues
that reflected your soul
a soul split in two
a soul torn
yet bound
held together by your smooth skin
contained by your
internal construction
secured by heart
tied by lungs
stitched together
by the veins and cells
every atom of your being

but still
the tear
remained

not visible to the naked eye
even when you stood
bare
unveiled
I still didn't see

from time to time
I'd wonder
question
what lay beneath the skin?
behind the heart?
what were your white ribs
truly protecting?

hip to hip
flesh to flesh
I couldn't see

the smoke from your parted lips
clouded my sight
fogged my mentality
and the light played through
seeped into the smoke rings

and you shifted
the glowing tip hanging
from your smirking mouth
and the light shifted with you
casting hazy shadows
across familiar planes

and I wondered
what they meant
that maybe
those ominous fingers
of spilled shade
were a deterrent
that the foreshadowed
what lay within your glossy exterior

and then you would ask
what I was thinking
and my reply would remain
forever unchanged

"your eyes," I'd whisper
"They're like the ocean's deepest element,
full of tender severity."