Hers was an exquisite beauty
Not the kind to command
Covers or runways
That puts a name
Up in lights or lead a headline

Her beauty commanded a second look
The kind you missed on a first take
And yes, it was there on the surface
But more, it ran deep

In her bearing
In the way she made others
The center of her world

Her smile flowed
From every feature of her being

To receive one was to be blessed

The first time
She gave me that gift

It was through a tangle of locks
Tossed about in the wind
The sound of breakers far below

My heart knew only one person
In the entirety of existence
And it took years to convince it
That there were other smiles in the universe

Some time after I’d grown beyond the desire to possess her
Our group of friends retraced that old road trip
And on this same point, through tousled locks
She gave me again that heart-stirring smile
But this time said

“I think I am falling in love with you.”