BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

I saw her face
... for the first time,
... very long ago.

I saw a smile I had forgotten!

Saw innocence
that I had lost.

... and I was afraid of her.

For I no longer believed in her world.!
............ protected.

a foolish world.
............ an American dreamworld.

I no longer loved America!

I was a stranger... too long gone
from home.
One year gone.
a hundred years... whatever... gone!
Just damn... gone.

Yet I looked each day
for her eyes
... her smile.

... and then she touched me,
... and said Yes!

I fumbled my thoughts,
and dropped words all over
the floor.,
and fell
laughing into myself.

... for the first time
in a long time.,
a damn long time.

I found an Angel
... and a 'welcome
home'.

In the silence of a kiss,
on a cold night,
so very long ago.

In the history and the tears
of a troubled World.

©Copyright October 29, 2002 by Lou J. Klaiber

Author’s Note: For Diane