Blind Eyes by The Sea

My pair of blind eyes, I lost near the sea.

Their "at first sight" forced lies upon me.

White fibs simply protecting,

What was confined behind my ribs.

Still,

They blocked from a man, sprawled in the sun, her golden light.

Just friends is what I saw-was right.

The blind man I was nearly wolfed a chance, to taste and to bite

The real, right in front of my face, "love at first sight."

Old scars and fresh, my mixed bag of reasons.

The whys and how comes I'd have no Spring seasons.

"Never fall in love; you'll break your neck."

A pompous man, down looking, once told me on an MIA trek.

"If ever I trip, Stan, don'tchu worry, it'll be in ssssllllllooooooowwwwww motion."

I told that condescending, "top model" clown.

A past exchange, in a bottle, washed up on my mind's beach by this ocean.

It at once, like standing water, made me frown.

See,

"Our" love plunge wasn't what broke me.

Ten fruitful and long ass years, however, did.

Whole truths of marriage, sharp daggered, what I now hid.

Damn, we even had a kid.

Twice.

Two souls that still stave off regret from becoming my vice.

As I baked near this scarce beauty,

My blinds became my heart's duty.

Clangs and whales came up from my marrow cell.

From my near lung dungeon, my inmate put out a cry.

"Wake up, man! Love is here, take it, or I die."

I felt the feels but figured, Nah, I'm…

A guy who's high.

So my cracked heart manufactured my blurred vision.

Veneered lies so to avoid another collision.

Wounded, he wanted to protect me.

Mended he wanted to collect me.

As my heart healed, he tried to end my prohibition.

How to get me to lean into her with some precision.

"I'll never love again, not like the first."

This was my new belief and a self-imposed curse.

I was happy a-lone beast, wild and free.

Even when my heart begged for me to see.

So I tried to stay in this space, coded and "f"-zoned as "She's one of the boys!"

Side stepping a wave that my heart knew would be full of...

Oooooohhhh boy.

I searched the viewfinder to justify my visual consumption.

Recorded her for some reason, for some vague down the road financial function.

A friend, a woman, an architect, and a muse.

I would never pursue to risk anything. Or to lose.

Besides, I couldn't see her aim this low.

She could have any man in this concrete ocean's flow.

That mixed bag, sheesh! My pathetic woe.

I'm no victim but being named "loser" and "trash,"

For years.

Words that caked onto my lash-is.

Here, my heart persisted. Praying to pry my eyes wide open.

I was dead in the middle, of a surprise, I was not even hope'n.

And yet here I was, present, with this woman.

I searched all around and found no bad omen.

The air we shared. The space between us.

This woman had no idea she was helping heal my trust.

It had been barred and sent way down below.

It was where my love would first grow.

Time with her blinked away dirty thin layers.

Reclearing the gateway to my deeper lairs.

I spent days with her, I took notes on her.

Those hand waves. Her, "oh and by the ways."

"To know her is to…" Ah! See? See?!

"We all knew it!" but me!

I learned her. I saw her.

I'd say I even knew her more than what on the surface would occur.

Her encasing laugh soothed my soul.

Outer beauty the blind could witness, even the fool.

All signal. No noise. All clearly heard.

Like Shawshank's Red, hand-delivered.

Cellblock "I" returned from digression.

Her kindness, with each of its varied expressions,

Nudged my new eyes to finally take form.

Pressed against the bars, my heart saw a storm.

Full clouds of fresh rain were getting thicker.

Good tidings of water that renewed my ticker.

If I had any sense, this all would have fallen so much quicker.

I am then sent a test by the ol’trickster.

She fell asleep, bronzing in the sun, so I moved away for a moment to steal.

In lapping waves, with my third eye, I'm a thief of what's real.

It blinked out so I tried following a glancing shot.

To shoot my…

Alas, I'm beaten to the ask by another man, fate's twist in the plot.

Good for him. He won.

What would I have done?

I might as well have been a nun.

I go back to sit on the sand.

"Where did you go?" She asked, rubbing her eye with a hand.

"I didn't get her number," I say.

"Whose number?"

I realized then I'd been in slumber.

I began to answer, and as I did, my old eyes blinked anew.

At that very moment, I knew.

I was seeing her for the very first time.

All the currents of her glory combined.

If I had missed, it would have been simply a crime.

My rib cage burst open, eyes and heart both free.

Sitting there, in front of me, was the only woman I could see.

All others vanished into forgetful memory.

My hindsight is now 20/20.

Thinking back on the day we first met.

How I didn't swoon now seems so funny.

A healer offered me the chance to reset.

Prison has been abolished.

My heart now worships like a psalmist.

Those scars and regrets are now topics

For us both to learn from and respect.

To know her is to see her.

To see her is to…

Yes, I believe in love at first sight.

Even if it took new eyes to see the light.

That day on the beach.

I could write a sermon and preach.

It was day one and this story is not…

…done.

Partner in crime…

The Tommy's still warm from our last run.

———

For the woman from the sea.

You be you and I be me.

Love…

I.

Aka Mami.