a sparkle, nascent -

oh, Dear Indulgence ... desolate, obscure, I know you not, (and have known you not), still, do I not know the glint there, in your eye? Aye, it abides me from ages hence ... I was but a boy, bounding through the dew of eventide, I saw that spark in the tail of a firefly, winking at me as you do now, tempting, coy, searching, sensual ... (my child's heart knew) or was it as a young man? Yes, late one night in early Fall ... I sat on a pier, legs dangling over the bay as the pilings groaned with the ebb of the tide, stomach in knots as I contemplated the timing of a first kiss ... I saw that flash in the blink of the coast beacon, its rays refracted into the gossamer fog that clung to the Atlantic swells, just as the mist of your emotion does now, tearing slight in hope and timid expectations ... (my child's heart knew) or was it yet later? I think it MUST have been! A winter's night like any, save for the closest approach of Venus in many years, dressed warm to clear a storm's snowfall from the driveway, when the shimmer of Aphrodite in the sky took my breathing, (already brief from the bite of January air) ... the same exquisite radiance that beckons to me now from your sultry gaze, full of promise and meandering mystery ... (my child's heart knew) or was it still when I was older, in the Caribbean? I had been snorkeling all day on the west coast of St. Croix - just off the beach at Frederiksted - and I had pulled myself up onto the reef for a rest. It was late in the day, and just as the sun's lip dipped below the sea, there was a flash of light, indescribable, brief, but saturated with colors I've never seen before OR since, ('til now). it stopped my heart, and I thought I'd never breathe again, yet that same extraordinary brilliance is here, now, in the very depths of the eyes that hold mine ... (my child's heart knew) aye, that was surely the time, and ALL the others, (and more), for without those sublime, sweet little moments that crushed my heart and will, those moments of joy and beauty and wonder and seduction, I would have missed all the glorious sensations and passions that peer at me now from the diaphanous depths of YOU ... I would have walked on in horrid ignorance, unaware of the extra- ordinary beauty and talent and complexities that you possess, and you would have forever remained unknown, desolate, obscure ... oh, dear and blessed indulgence ... MINE! (my child's heart knew). ~ 1st Place ~ in the "A Poem I Wrote and Sent Drifting" Poetry Contest, Broken Wings, Judge & Sponsor. ~ Honorable Mention ~ in the "Strand No 710, Any Theme, Any Form" Poetry Contest, Brian Strand, Judge & Sponsor.