To Rescue Beauty

what any of us can do

To Rescue Beauty

He could not have known
that she would blindly choose
his street one morning:

heartsick, striding fast
along his sidewalk
to outpace a chill,

wet cheeks turned east
to petition early light.

He could not have known,
pacing the front yard
years before,

debating where to hang
battered wind chimes
picked up for a song

at a dismal garage sale,
that the chosen bough

would someday
channel a sudden gust,
stirring copper rods

to nudge one another
in softly sonorous gongs
just as her ears

and the rest of her
reached that tree.

He could not have known
how tones,
random dyads

borne aloft
on a random breeze—
major, then minor—

would fix her to the earth
in wonder,

how eyes could shroud,
pores could thirst
for resonant waves, how

each chord,
an implication of the unheard
electrifying her scalp,

could convince her that this life
may be worth living,
after all.

He may never know
the import of
one human being’s impulse

to turn right
rather than left,
and another’s impulse

to rescue beauty
and give it a home…

But I do.

---

Thank you for your presence here. If my work brings value to your life, subscribe below, or share it with a friend. I love comments, too — it all keeps me going. :-)

There’s always the one-and-done option, too:

https://ko-fi.com/marypoindextermclaughlin

As always, keep your light shining bright.
xox
M