Does beauty ever fade

Does beauty ever fade

As old days sail by

Perhaps it merely changes

Evolving through the ages

As the sun sets, a different hue

The reds and golds of a fiery sky

Breaking into starlight.

Nothing twinkles without

It creates a wonder

Seemingly cast forever

As the moon races over

A divergent plane

Full of contradiction.

Nothing ever looks the same

But is seen

In more than glory,

She who once was young

With nary any sign of blotch

Or weathered mark,

Faces change with contempt

For the certitude of inevitability

The rose once bloomed

Will drop its weathered petals

One by one

Until the wind is lifted

And with a sigh

The last of them is blown

Into a quiet confrontation

With a future self.

The dust of life never lost,

The cycle never discontinued

All things below and beyond

The sun remain to be seen

When the eye is drawn

Toward life as

A perfect imperfection

It will always bloom anew

Beauty never dies

The look, the smile,

The laughter in her eyes

Will always be the same

But undeniably

In countenance, different

Than once it was

Perhaps only to be appreciated

In the fullness of its glory

The majesty of its grace,

In the well-met eye of a passionate observer.