Beauty
is here, it lies
within my face
if one looks long
enough, it is there
in your face at only
a glance. Beauty is
in everything, it lays
on the street like
lost coins, and pools
in the gutter like
lonely raindrops. Beauty
is in the eye of the
beholder, but can
you meet her gaze long
enough to find it
there? Beauty is
common, pray I don’t
contradict, and like
love, everybody’s got
a little. Envy those
who carry more than
their share, but not
too long, for beauty is
but chalk on a wall.
It’s seeming permanence,
stony and unyielding
to the touch, eternal
in the moment, the month
or the season,
is soon washed
away ‘neath the
constant rain
of Mother Time

                AcB        8.1.98