I used to

read poetry
but now instead all I do
Is watch the way your mouth
curls in the corners

when you smile

and marvel at the way

the golden light of your brown eyes
is the exact

brightness of happiness
You smile and your eyes

get crinkles in the corners

because that light

is shining to get out
And I spend my days
searching for that light

in the eyes of others
and the way their mouths

tighten or soften, moving only a little
into thousands of kinds of smiles

and I find it

And this is not a love poem
for one person

but an appreciation

for the way people are
And how I can spend my days
looking at their beautiful faces

for specks of the light of their hearts in the lines

and crinkles of their brows and the bridges of their noses

and bits of soul on their cheeks when they smile

a quiet, self-conscious smile.


I used to

write poetry
and now,
instead,
I see it.

XO- Magz.