Love is Red, a Caitria Camino Poem

Time looked at me blankly Wind puffing its white dress. An organza billow, Half veil, half shroud.

I dip both hands in vermillion I grasp, I stain time with meaning I press it close - My handprints proof That something in this world was mine.

Death, an ending bracket. The changing of time’s frock, From mine to another’s.

To love is to bruise time with beauty. To say, I was here, and you were mine. To love is to know That which I touch is not mine forever.

But still, I dip my hands in red. Still, I touch the hour. Still, I make time beautiful, Even as it slips From my stained hands Forward, into the wind.

by Caitria O’Neill