Beauty (2005)

A haiku septet for Monica, on her 26th Birthday


Understand: beauty
is more than an appearance;
it is a freedom.


It is the process
of the smiling surrender—
gently letting go.


To fly is to love
like the stem loves the flower,
flies her face (a flag).


Our souls are seamless
like branch blending into leaf
or leaf into space.


You are beautiful
in your flowering, whether
awake or asleep.


Kiss me with your sleep,
and when you wake, embrace me,
hold me with your songs.


When day is opened,
like coloured birds from a tree,
our music takes flight.