Eyelash Poem by Tamir Greenberg

For eighteen entire days
we abandoned our bodies to the joy of love
and suddenly you went away: forces stronger
than the warmth of my body summoned you.
But before you left me you kissed, and then,
unconsciously, you left me as a gift
a tiny memento: a single black eyelash
dropped from your eyelid onto my shirt.

I hold it with care, moved
by its softness on the tip of my thumb, and gaze:
in it nature hid the essence of your being.
In it nature drew your eyes that gaze with wonder
at the light as it changes in the clouds,
in it your is carved your heart that falls in love so often,
is stricken with despair and rebounds to fall in love.
In it are the warmth of your skin, your simplicity,
your furious face and the little wrinkle in your brow.

I take it to the window,
puff and blow it, puff, away.
Fly, I whisper, fly.
Let the wind take you where
it will, anywhere you choose to rest -
there joy shall prevail.