Ode for Annie!

(Poetry) A poem written for me, not by me

While digging up drawings for last week’s post “Serious Music” I came across a poem someone wrote for me over a decade ago.

An Ode to Annie’s Beauty at Night

by Anonymous

Here is the night time with Annie
as I have seen it and remember it so:
The sun sank away slowly into the billow of purple clouds
with streams of golden light vaulting towards the heavens.
A chilled air crept though the car window
biting my ears and my nape.
Pale moonlight glistened and glittered
dancing across the water of the dark bay.
A sea of sweaty bodies swayed through the dark hill
rowing gracefully
with shut eyes and nimble legs.
The city grew silent as the hours fell.
But these things I do not remember.
What I remember is Annie's beauty at night.
For it was her beauty that I took notice of.
Like true beauty, Annie's beauty is simple.
Simple and compelling, 
I am compelled to write of it,
to shape it into words
and I am compelled to give these words to Annie.
I would say to her:
Annie,
You are the call of the nightingale,
a sweet song upon the summer dusk.
You are the rose in the winter,
soft crimson petals catching frost.
You are the poet's lips,
whispering melodies in the dark.
You are the wise man's caution,
as calm as the willow's bough,
as gentle as the tide at dawn.
You are the artist's wonder,
steering his search for beauty.
And all men who gaze into your dark spinning eyes
find in the depths of their hearts the same desire.
The want to pull you close,
to hold your warmth,
to press into your lips and steal from you a kiss
to savor it.
But alas, 
No man may keep it.
For against time all things grow dim and pass away.
And even our memories shall be swept asunder from us
and every caress, every kiss, every chance not taken
becomes
a fading taste
a dwindling light
an echo in the dark. 
And this is why we should all take notice 
of Annie's beauty at night.

Thanks for reading!