Loveless in Catalua

Rolling earth, winding roads
course through forests and fields.
Ponies wink from meadows.
Feed stores at twilight.
Mysterious houses blinking
beneath live oaks and Spanish moss.
Fractured light bends through branches.

I think of my Spanish princess far away.
The Atlantic swells and rises for thousands of miles.
She's fixing her makeup. She's stepping into her stilettos.
Her red lipstick paints the rim of a champagne flute
as music thumps she moves her body.

I drive these roads and imagine a life we might live.
A historic mansion surrounded by hills and fields.
We'd share our pain. She'd play violin in the parlor.
At dawn we'd sleep in a big bed high off the floor.

I no longer wish the pain away.
We are blessed and cursed.
The pain is part of me just like
it is part of you.

But I'll hold you as the sunlight streams past
yawning oaks and fields of clover.
I'll kiss your soft eyelids and feel the tickle of your lashes.
Your red lips curve into the sweetest of smiles.
The sun rises and we sleep, the Spanish princess,
the American prince.