Adreyo Sen- A Poem

The Beauty

When I was young, I went to search

for beauty.

But the faces that soared above me,

so awful in their majesty,

scared me away.  Beauty, I thought,

must have a lap

I could place my dreams on.

I grew, and grew

past my dreams.  They fell noiseless

from my usually grasping fingers.

It was my head for which

I sought refuge.  I wished it could lie

on a soft lap and look into the world's 

brightest eyes.

And see its fears explode away.

But I saw no beauty.

For in her face was my anger,

in hers my selfish rage,

on hers the wrinkles of my little 

meannesses, on hers the scars

of my wilder ways.

And in hers, in hers was my

terrible capacity for hate.

And then I saw the beauty

I'd scoured the heavens for as a child.

Her smile was gentle, and peace

was the soft lushness of her lips.

She stepped into my arms and I forgot to be.

And in forgetting was better than I'd ever been.

Reborn, I felt my tears on her cheek,

and looked into her quiet eyes.

She, my beauty, was blind.