All darkness set against fair skin
Just like a glass doll’s eyes
The kind they used to sell in department stores
Shining through large black glasses
Borrowed from Audrey Hepburn.
And I reached over to brush the loose strands of hair
From her face, to tuck them behind her ear.
Then all I could see were those two emeralds
Blinding me in the sun.

And I still held that photograph in my wallet
Her kneeling in a field, a sea of dandelions
Holding one in her hand
Regarding it as a rose
Til the darkness stretched out
Over the great drape of sky
Stars magnified, like so many tiny holes punched
In a piece of black paper.

Then when we walked through the arboretum
Til we were lost
I looked behind me
And saw those two emeralds dancing in the dark.