You were an intellectual jewel
a glittering phenomenon in the sky, some disturbance of space-time
in which all things were knit together in a subjective pattern
and so tightly pulled together that light reflected from every facet
in turn, as you spun, like a windmill,
like a tyger
frightening in your perfect symmetry
in which every stripe was a symbolism
and every red a cleansing fire
which purified everything it touched,
or touched it.
The love I felt for you was first of pity,
for you did not know what it meant to feel,
and you had few friends.
But in time I grew to love you properly,
for your complex simplicity
and your ethereal strict beauty.
And I thought then,
that even if you could not return my love,
it was enough to look at you.
Summer, 2017