Where is that artifice
I’ve become so well-acquainted with?
Is it under the brassiere?
Is it anywhere near?

Or does it simply not exist?
Making you the leviathan:
That fabled love, mythical,
Sequestering the cynical

It’s too easy to give in
And admit that you’re here
It’s easier to hold you at arm’s length
And make that potential disappear

But the artifice has forced its way
To the other side of eternity
And I can’t find a trace of it in you

Is it a dream
Is our sight
Eclipsed by our desires

Are you a trick

Do you exist in reality

As much as in my thoughts?

Am I artificial?
Superficial?
Do I put on smiles to make you smile?
Am I anything besides what my emotions tell me I’ll be on any given day?

Where is my free will?
It eludes me just as much as your existence does
And your beauty
And the brunette spiral staircase spring
Released to the right of your eyes
Which shine hazel and splattered green
As if they were their own galaxies
And my destiny as Captain Kirk is finally realized
And I discover the wonder in those nebulae

You are real

But I do not know how to accept that
And begin being present with you

Perhaps the problem is
That we’re not all there is

Love, ***, and eros
Accumulate but one section of life
And I am in no position to deny the rest

I love life
And I’m willing to think I love you
In that headband that’s bright blue
I do not know what to do with you

Love is a fitting fate for people like you
You are precious
And able to be loved
And that's the role I play