"What do you think?"

I stare longingly at the painting in front of me

Silently, I contemplate the dreams of anonymity written on this canvas

It seems to be, something of antiquity 

Though the descriptor says it's a modern piece

"What do you think?"

"It's lovely"

And that is all

It is lovely, was all I could speak, for my words hung dry in my throat 

No squeak, arose from my lips past my teeth

"Come, there's more to see"

"No. This one is for me"

I stare longingly into the painting, noticing the finer details

The slight moments where the brush didn't cooperate, the subtle scars across the face

But

I love her all the same.

This woman who I have felt touch my dreams

Stares back at me

The light behind her eyes is all I would ever need

All I could ever think of knowing 

Her unending beauty stares back at me smiling

And I stare back crying

Because I know that for as much as I want this love to be

It may not last into enternity

I tell her 

"For as long as we both shall be, to you alone will I be yours

For you alone entangle me in your heart strings

So pluck them and play them beautifully"

For the life of me I wonder why she smiles at me 

For I am the epitome of broken dreams

Of shattered things, scattered fiends that bind me 

I'm crying

While she is still smiling

Why is she still smiling?

"How do you not despise me?"

"Because" she spake

"When I look into your eyes, it's like seeing the horizon, where the land and sky meet"

Her hand out reached, wiping away the tears she said finally

"I will love you, for as long as you love me"