like how today there was this tall girl

crossing the street in the afternoon sun

dark and pure as a hundred summer midnights

braids long as her spine

laughing at something with her friends

natural and selfless as wind

and the way it plunged me

into the deepest anguish of the moment

because happiness crossed her face

the way riverwater continually rolls

over the faces of smooth stones

and how I didn't know the precise combination

of words to say how

to keep that bright blossom of hunger for everything

opening inside her heart forever