Philemon and Baucis

Infatuation harbors in superficiality.

Their love was never ophthalmic.

When their eyes met, his cuteness Came more from vulnerability than outer appearance.

Her laughter and the loud voice echoing from her chapped lips

Led him to love her.

His glasses only drew a minor amount of attention

From the acne scars overcoming his blotchy red cheeks.

She smiled with closed lips to hide the separation

Between her yellow-tinted teeth.

His stomach hung over jeans and their first friendly embrace

Damped her shirt with his perspiration.

The button of her orange and plaid flannel

Refused to kiss its mate

And her tattered brown hair hid the choking collar.

An amateur artist, she singled out every flaw in her wavering voice

While he showered her with compliments following each performance.

As the church preacher encouraged the congregation to join hands

Their fingers intwined and both sweaty palms,

His warm, hers cold, refused to separate

Despite the minister granting permission to do so.

He proclaimed affections stronger than a simple crush;

She loved him too.

Neither boy not girl gifted the universe with beauty

But their minds painted pictures of peace and hope

Across the earth's dying landscapes of sorrow and solitude.

Their passions for astronomy, nature, literature, life, and love

Poured from their lips, gliding gracefully off of each eloquent tongue.

Time tore them apart

But strengthened their affections.

Her teeth drifted farther from one another, but whitened

With every kind word associated with his name.

His face cleared as she trusted him with her worries

And he accepted her internal faults.

Age altered their appearances and demeanors.

They grew as one, while secluded from each other's lives.

Soul mates spiraling down the same confusing path of adulthood,

Their beauty intertwined to create

A single magnificent representation of trust, faith, and love.

Upon this revelation their beauty blossoms

Distributing seeds of envy within the heart of every human life

While they smile and laugh through every treacherous experience

Bound together by the hands of fate and an envelopment of love.