Sunset On The Bayou Poem by Harlequin Rose

The cicadas awaken
and beat their wings against my eardrums
the heat lifts off the water
and sparkles in her hair
raven-colored and kissed with Cajun red
cotton mouths creep thru the water below us
gators hiss their warning
the purple sky sits atop our skin
like a childhood blanket
the stars have not yet
made our acquaintance
but they will
and across from me
she speaks
her voice is pure bayou
all smoke and heat
and weeping willow trees
she is the bayou
in all its beauty and sultry charm
and I think to myself
maybe she would've been something I'd be good at
and I try to live up to the moment
but I cannot own it
for my blood runs in her veins
and hers in mine
however distant it may be
and so for sanity's sake
I will destroy the one thing I truly need
I close my eyes
and breathe in the fetid breeze
knowing
if I would have said I love you
she would have said it back
I might have found a way
to save her
to keep her from her fate
but my sin has bloodied my hands
for I failed to control my poison
and now I don't know if its okay
to go where I'm going yet
but in her eyes I see things
I dare not touch
I know not to even reach for them
for her innocence is the very crutch
upon which my devotion stands
the blood that binds us is ancient
and she, as beautiful and dangerous as the bayou
is the culmination of a family's dream
and so I say what I must
and hold onto the rest
I lay my conscience at her feet
inhale the bayou
and release...