Andean Eyes Poem by Gordon R Menzies

In the crowded marketplace you singled me out,
somehow saw the loneliness beneath the dust of my travel.
you, a black-haired Inca girl in a dirty dress,
skin brown as the clay roofs of Cuzco,
limbs slim as the bamboo growing
near the Gate of the Winds
in the Sacred Valley

What defense was there against your smile?
you sold me jewelry I didn't want, but bought,
just to have you near me a moment more.
I wanted to steal you away from that place,
but, with the necklace sold, you were gone.

Later, I caught one fleeting glimpse of you
while I sat heated on the soon departing train.
you were searching the crowd for more buyers.
I stared accusingly at you and you looked away,
looked away because you knew
you knew
you'd cut a neat sliver from my heart
to keep for your very own

and they told me it was the mountains
that would take my breath away