I See Your Face

by Lynn Michael Martin

I see your face in every face I see,
for when you left me, you left me no more
than hopes unsure, that when these glimpses flee,
they will not leave my yearning senses poor
beyond all remedy. Still, though they let
all specters fade; though my fair dreams they mar—
still, you are pure, and I shall see you yet;
over this darkness I shall see a star.
For hope is not a virtue, nor a trait
taught or imputed like some righteousness—
Hope is the world entire of those who wait,
and, seeing beauty, settle not for less.
I see the night; I see your glory fade,
but I recall you when the world was made.

Lynn Martin believes that the essence of the universe is joy, and that in poetry there should shine both the earth’s joy and a light from beyond the world.

Photography by Kenneth Godoy