Beauty (with apologies to John Keats)

When I’d taken just about as much

as I could give out,

and with muscles burned

like old briars,

and the hint

or whiff of oil,

given off

I turned to you,

half submerged by hair and pillow

and saw, 

in unwelcome morning’s glow

the truth of beauty;

love entwined with loss.

It's all we know on earth

and all we need to know.