For Eurydice who is gone

You were the most beautiful girl in Gion
That day
With the rain in your hair
You wore shiseido red
And your mother’s kimono
Your hair swept up
My wannabe geisha
My beauty
My love
We crossed the bridge over the Kamogawa River
With the hawks calling above us
And you smiled the sun
And you lit the sky
And you laid your palms open to me
The votive of your hand.

I had walked those streets everyday
Watched seasons and years pass like trains
And gather like leaves and cherry blossoms at my feet
You followed me to Arashiyama
We ate green tea ice cream
And fed the birds
We walked the bamboo forest
Watched the boats wind down the jade green river
You held my hand
A burning ember in my solar plexus
A violent purple bruise on my heart
A throbbing, aching, clawing pulse
My undoing done
My love song sung

I lost you in Kyoto
The cobbled streets swallowed your footsteps
The gaping cracks whispered your name
The hawks flew away
I went to the temple alone
In the throng of people
I felt most alone
I stood for hours to ring the bell
I drank the water and washed my hands
I saw you
High above me
Dancing with stars on your feet
I cried cold tears that fell like sleet
You told me
I’d be ok
That I would feel you on summer days
That you followed me in wind and rain
That what we shared would come again
With other women
In other times
Far beyond the city’s smog and grime

I lost the veneer
I took off the rose tinted glasses
I looked for Geisha
And found Harajuku girls
I forget the song you sang to me
In my dreams you are all I see
I turn around to see your smile
You disappear into the dark
Far away and further still
The deep yearning in my heart
I trace your hand
It’s fit in mine
The taste of mint and sweet plum wine
I carve the silence like a glove
I cast away my hope
My love
I look for you in city streets
Your faint mirage in summer’s heat
Your face on other’s smiles back at me
I conjure time and you with me
I watch the hawks
Those benevolent Kings
As they dip and glide
Fast, falling still
To kiss the fish that lose their tears
To the water
To themselves
To the years.