Gnarled Poem by Lonnie Hicks

It was the eternal summer of her soul
which mesmorized me-
a shiny shimmering-
which glowed in the day time
and at night emitting its golden light
which played among the fireflies
on the veranda where we sat
sipping ice tea
in the Carolina smoldering,
smoky
evening;
where magic lived and crickets chirped
and her staring me full in the face
from which an overpowering innocence radiates
across the short space
between that look
and my paralyzed fearful state
while I was transfixed by her sky blue eyes
revealing to me it seemed the very face of God
looking out,
looking through me
unflinchingly
unapologetically,
unselfconsciously
unjudgementally;
her soul-being peering into my
my guarded hidings,
feaful of stepping
into
the daytime-at-night gaze
while feeling my hand rise to my face
unable to stand the nakedness in her look
of which she herself was unaware
a look which withered me
as she took that hand
and placed upon it a gentle kiss
which seared into my cringing soul
propelled by gratefulness
for that little bit of innocence
from her hand kiss
my gnarled inner self
frozen cold over time
and out of touch
with Innocent Innocence
blushed.
There was only the gentle sigh
to part the night
and my own weeping regrets