Warpaint

Today I took off the war paint Laid down the mask And showed my face to the world Not the face of my dreams Not the smooth, unmarked skin of my youth Not the face that you loved When we first loved But it is my face Deeper lines around the eyes A small down turning of the mouth Probably from all the words Heavy and dank Brown spots from lazy afternoons in the sun Green eyes like the grass we laid in Nose as wide as the iridescent sky We danced under See this line here and that line there Carved by laughter and tears Markers of a life Containing all the wisdom of age Today I took off the warpaint Because I am no longer at war With myself or the world And the mask covered everything that was real See me Let me see you- your face And we can wade through the canyons and valleys etched there Splash in the river of your tears And live in a field of freckles Under the shade of your eyelashes Seeing each other as such Can we ever not be beautiful