Eyes of Eternity

It was an ordinary danish
A cup of coffee hot and black
Smell of bacon wafting
Jousted mid-air with frying tater tots

There was the normal clutter
Of pepper, salt and jelly
And if you were lucky
Tomatoes freshly squeezed

There was the frazzled waitress
The regulars known each by name
Sat perched atop their vinyl thrones
Brown, spinning with well-earned cracks

Yes, if I'd sat here once
I'd sat here more than I could count
Long since mine, from this booth
I watched the world walk by

And then . . . she walked in . . .
Time stood still, even ceased
The danish became divine
Before . . . it ceased to be

The waitress radiantly transformed
Before she too disappeared
The regular scene now painted regal
Succumbing to invisibility

My booth and danish and caffeine
The clutter of the place
In that instant gone
There was only she

Her hair golden treasure
Her lips the finest linen
Hiding priceless gemstones white
Her eyes . . . her eyes depthless rapture

I had not breath to greet her
As I delved into those eyes
But there was no need of breath
Where mere words could prove only deficient

And in that infinity brief
Smiled she, the conqueress divine
My soul consumed, captured, possessed
As in that moment I saw my eternity

February 2004