there once was a girl
she lived in a world that has long been washed away
she was beautiful, her eyes were as deep as the ocean,
her skin glowed like the pale light of the moon
she was intoxicating, memorising and when she danced the
stars would come to play
people sung songs about her
they wrote poems for her, drew paintings for her
her beauty placed the world in the palm of her hand
and she wrapped her fingers around it
softly, gently, she knew she was lucky
she had tattoos all up and down her arms
words to inspire herself and the lovers that kissed her
pictures of things that she had seen
of things she wanted to create
she inspired people to be better, do better
she would take long walks in the woods
flower petals in her hair and grass between her toes
the birds praised her as she breezed past
the sun would shine patterns through the leaves
and she would lie down and trace them with her fingertips
one day she lay there, in the woods tracing with her fingertips,
when a boy approached and sat beside her
his eyes were as vast as the sky and his skin shone like the sun
he had tattoos on his arms of things he loved and feared
he held out the palm of his hand
he said ‘your beauty spans the ages. Here, I offer you the world’
she looked at him, and closed his fingers gently
‘your beauty beats my heart but I have my own.’
she held his head in her hands and kissed his closed eyes
‘for though I love you, I cannot become you’
he opened his eyes and took her hand
their world’s collided, fed off the energy of the other, but they
did not break
two beauties walking through the woods,
wandering but not lost, until ages past and eras changed
until the time came for them to lay beneath the stars
listening to the beat of their fading hearts
becoming one with the earth as the stars shone above.