Life Lines

She wore an empty stare

No thoughts were festering

The windows there

No hint of anything within

The creases and the wrinkles

Near her eyes were drawn

In weary lines

That told a story of their own

She must have aged that way

The skin transforming to

Habitual gray

A sadness etched in many years

But there was more to see

When she looked up at me

And then I knew

That she had been in reverie

Because her wrinkles turned

Around her smile and drew

The sashes wide

Enough for me to look inside

At something that I knew

Right then of rainbows that

Are really true

And build against a cloudy hue

And see her countenance

Alive and without sound

Provide a humor

To her highlights all around

I wondered at the richness

Of her face, so full

Of care and yet

So full of tenderness and grace

What is the cost of

Keeping such a smile,

What is the life that lifts

The lines of time

What sort of magic makes

Of weariness and grief

Into a loveliness and

Light beyond belief