Poetry by Alexandra Lander: A Kiss in Venice

One by one, everything filling my senses drifts away
The warm glow of twinkling chandelier lights
The blood red of the wine in our glasses
The hum of happy conversations throughout the room
The ancient smell of the canal outside the terrace
The sound of water lapping the sides of stone walls
The balconies cascading with fuchsia and violet flowers in the dusk
All drifting away into a black silence
Except for one small aura of a streetlight
Shining on just the two of them
And suddenly it was just me…and them…
…and the sound of my heart
Lovers embracing, in the most romantic place two people ever could
Locked in a passionate kiss that goes on and on and on
He clutches handfuls of her long, flowing hair
Her fingers locked lightly behind his neck
I know that feeling…I know it so well
It has not been mine for over a year,
Seemingly lost forever, never to return
Was it jealousy?
Not this time
Because they are the spirit of love incarnate
The spirit that lives in all of us
I bless their love, I bless their passion
This could be me in a few years
Back in this ancient city of romance, sonnets and stories
The city where saints, sinners, poets, musicians,
celebrities and countless others
Graced the streets with their presence
Enjoying the same views, sailing the same waterways
Overflowing with it all, from the sacred hush of the Cathedral
--Sunlight piercing windows into the dark, dusty stillness--
To the quiet grace of dancing sunlight
Reflecting from the water upon a golden wall
I know what they’re feeling, what they’re sharing
And I will find it again, because it didn’t come from him
It didn’t come from “us”
It exists within me, and shines outward
And it is but the reflection that returns
Of my own divinity