Simplicity

I wore monarchs in my hair, all hugging the raven hued locks Sleeping folds of sparkling cloth slipping across my waist And from my mouth dripped honey And from my eyes glittered gold. Painted toes and fingers. Painted face. I swore to be everyone’s desire. The treasure for them to hold The blinking, sparkling memory The shadow upon their lips. A scar blazed through hearts. And I smiled at them. Yes, that dazzling grin that spoke of diamonds, Acknowledging their wishes, fulfilling their rumors, The painted woman whose breath rose and fell with the morning and evening, As majestic as the mountains, As brilliant as the sun. And they would soak in my masqueraded beauty, Fresh kisses stretched across my shore. For a moment, knowing I was complete, Another finding the kisses gone. Empty once again. But then Honesty smiled, He smiled at me, And my mountains softened into hills, And the paint flew away in eddies of confused color, Away from my face, My fingers, My toes. And the glittering cloth awoke, Prancing after the sparkles of forgotten paint. And the monarchs followed in a torrent of orange, Black, White, Fading, sinking into the sky. And then with the grinning flash of his teeth The raven ascended, and cawed its last hollow cry, Exploding into sparks of the empty night at its peak, Leaving me, the painted woman, No longer painted, no longer desired. Natural, brown, Normal at last, Wanting only to walk upon the perfect curve of his lips forever, Sleeping curled in the valley left by his smirk, Complete at last.