Temporary Savior - Poem

Temporary Savior

Death came again on one of those days

Portland January grey

When wet street was darkened sky

When gum sucked of flavor

Lay drowning, discarded in gutter

When there was no reflection in puddles

When there was no reflection in eyes

My heart was choking

On a slamming door

And the only sounds

Were gods hitting the floor

Every moth flew too close to the flame

Screaming they died cursing my name

And then you came.

With its dying breath

My heart begged aloud

“Look UP!”

My neck obeyed, and…

Your blue eyes

Your blue eyes

Your blue eyes

Met mine, and contained the only color in the world

Backlit from within
Your eyes betrayed
Your inner soul's search for the flower
Of soul manifesting through eyes

And unimaginably

Yours chose mine

You walked past

Too damned fast

And I strained to hear the music

That came from your hair:

Notes of owls

Wind in trees

Small brooks

And a cacophony of sun rays
That laughed in their summer azure

I missed most of it, I know

But what I heard lifted me a step higher

Made the rays stronger than the clouds
And I thanked the One for you

For although I don’t know you

And our physical distance increased

With each stride

Your beauty saved me
This one time.

--Eric Marley

October 2013

(To a pretty woman I once passed and, meeting her eyes, never saw again)