If I told you all the things that I love about you
(your eyes, your legs,
your mouth, your laugh, your skin)
would you shy away from me?
Would you run like a rabbit from a fox, hiding and silent?
Would you become suddenly busy when I called on you,
and disappear like a shadow in the sun when you saw me on the street?
If I held you up to the mirror in my eyes, would it be the same?
Of course not. Because it is always changing, we are always changing,
to be in love, and to be the first to fall in love, is a sin.
To love you for more than a friend is a weakness and must be ignored.

So my little Matchlight, I shall remain silent in the face of your inscrutable beauty.
I shall not remind you of your eyes like coffee,
your skin like chocolate, your lips like ripe figs, or your hair like night.
I will be merely your friend, no more dangerous to you than a pillow or a bucket of warm water.

AcB 11.18.00