Love After Ashes

 

Though we had never met, my eyes sought yours,

Through roads that rang with sorrow, dust, and pain;

Yet still the lamp of hope refused to fade,

And love moved onward to the dawn of light.

...

They said your beauty rivaled moonlit skies,

I wished to see what time had made of you;

Your dark braid brushed against your shawl at dusk,

And turned my barren nights to songs of spring.

...

I was no garden rich with living blooms,

But like a ruined fairground after rain;

Still scattered stars awakened deep in me,

And formed bright parades within my dark heart.

...

At every step, the stones became my test,

And solitude became my fiercest guide;

I learned to walk though both my wings were torn,

Till pain itself grew into humming songs.

...

Will fate bring roses, or a bed of thorns?

I tossed my coin against the winds of time;

Though centuries of suns had scorched my flesh,

My heart still searched the ashes for new life.

...

So let us start with one uncertain glance,

No borrowed vows, no grand confessions now;

For loving you, I learned to live again,

And life itself became the dawn I sought.