It Is Overwhelming To Behold

Baltimore through airplane windows,

night-covered and glittering.

The woman in a onyx gown,

her glowing white skin made of

paint placed just so.

The flame of sunlight on the 

teal cotton bedspread,

the rolling silk wave 

of my sister's hair on the breeze, 

and 

the water glass on the counter. 

Sometimes it is so much at once, 

that I wish to stop looking, 

  for fear that my chest will burst!

Maybe it is because of this wish 

that I have been dealt the absence

of the most

beautiful one 

I've ever known. 

This empty image,

this bitter privilege, 

is what tears my soul in two.