I love her because she's beautiful
in the way she defines
herself.
Sunshine and health.

but I could swear she's the moon
in the way she waxes and wains,
in my mind, my sky brain, her face
somehow making the stars brighter.

I love her because she's beautiful,
beautiful like smile lines,
the sound of rhymes,
and the pain in the spine
of an elderly person
stooping to pick up a child
ten-thousand times.

Her beauty is like laughter
when you're alone,
like silence in a crowd,
complete as stone,
complete as clouds.

pardon me
if my heart beats too loud