I Was, Once, Too Beautiful.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

first there was a word
you listen carefully
it is uttered
it is not the word
but how beauty presents itself to you
it is awesome

then the word was gone
you have paid no attention to it
it is beauty that
strikes you
and wish some more to see it again

beauty parades itself in nudity
you fell in awesome silence
who can speak about it?
you are shut into a room of amazement
this wish to possess and hold and
not lose the grasp

but beauty does not belong to you
neither does it belong to anyone else
it escapes and then lost forever

time takes it
and time does not give it back

you mourn
but in the middle of your grief
you accept

i too was once
that beauty, so why should i grieve some more?

i too was that beauty
that never was once possessed by someone else

now it is not the grief
but that selfishness
and greed.