In Praise of Her Eyes

". . . sapphires flashing from the central sky. . . " Wallace Stevens

Like the poet's sapphires,
the blue of your eyes seems a first blue,
the blue of deepest spring
hiding within the winter's gray,
blue that is bluer than the green of spring,
early, like the morning star
that heralds the light of later day.

The blue of your eyes seems to rise from within you,
uplifting, capacious,
like a glory from beyond the bluest of skies,
when you smile, like a dawning dream
that warms as it breathes its blue translucence,
from inside to out,
from ember to fire,
intense, like cool jazz,
radiant, and self-transforming.

O, say how two blue lamps can glow so pure,
dominating with tenderness
all the other lights of heaven,
say how rich is the touch of a blue
that can move a heart to open and to smile,
and say how sweet is the bliss of a blue
that knows itself and its power
in the dark of the night.

March 5, 1990