In Praise of Your Beauty

Note: This poem was not written at Altoids, but was debuted there.

I think my left lung gets snagged on a rib
When I look at you,
And when I get my breath back
I fear the powerful cords
You've thrown around my heart –
Still straining each rise and fall of my diaphragm –
That draw us together
Yet keep us apart.

For when we talk I know
You're a million miles away.
With me helpless and you oblivious (perhaps),
Who will cut these cords
Of haunting, hopeless affection?

Ah, Nature's lopsides
Always have downsides,
Many of which are prisons.
Nonetheless, few things excel
Your beauty.
That you are beautiful does you no credit,
Though it ensnare my mind and heart;
But it is no small thing to live beautifully:
This I praise!

I suppose the odds are good,
Based on past experience,
That years from now when we meet
I shall remember this poem cum confession
And wonder why I wrote these lines
In praise of a beauty I still see
But no longer quite feel.

But I do now write.
Herein lies my praise.