Ode to Eyes

Eyes, pools of liquid splendor, orbs of silent intensity, flitting here, flitting there, resting in sunken sockets and greedily consuming each ray of light. You hide your power behind leaden lids and lashes like spikes of ebony. Gossamer fibers of brilliance surround the portal to your core. You pin me in place, devouring every feature of my face. You decipher my soul with cones and rods not waiting to weigh the pros and cons. The painter of the mind, you give mankind the chance to see and be seen. Sacred spheres of perception, you cannot lie. Lips let loose lies into trusting ears while hands caress falsehoods into supple skin. It is human nature to be deceptive, to be distant, to be guarded. But you, while your power can be masked behind flesh, your encapsulation of our souls can never be concealed. Whether creasing with the joy of a genuine smile, leaking crystalline pain, or drooping in weariness of life like a withering bloom, you convey, you embody, you are what keeps the hearts of men true. Eyes are the essence of the soul, the truest form in which one can share themselves. Mankind is eternally indebted to you for all your magnificence, for all the unspoken words said, for all the truths conveyed through an intimate glance. You, luminous gateways, bless living creatures with the swirling visions of beauty that sweep constantly past us.