The Kaleidoscope

She sees perfection held in bright crystals
patterned in intricate shapes against the light,
each piece poised delicately, forming the petals
of a glittering sunflower.
Delight seizes, holds her and she is caught – for this
swift thing commands both eye and heart
and to retain it single, intact, she is
bound to a stillness, to remain apart:
for if she moves, withdraws the gaze, the flower
will be destroyed, the gleaming petals tossed.
Dreading disturbance knowing she has no power
to recapture this vision were it lost,
she stands as if she’d seen love suddenly
revealed, fearful of its fragility.