BEAUTY

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The laundry list of ineffectual endeavours to defile beauty include:
twisting it into a materialist act;
a martini, a pop song, boozy brunches, girlboss-ing,
Babylon (the-Hollywood-movie-kind),  boot corrals,

golden arches as eyebrows, leather tights or a brand.

Homogeneity that infects eyes.
Your lung.

Beauty is as non-negotiable as breath.

Inviolable as a qipao, a raven's wing, glossy bronze skin, 

jasmine streaming along generously carved lips, her hips,

bakhoor and the intimate sound of a low drum. 

A murmur. 

Under the burlap tent,

He finds her.

Scarf billowing in the breeze, 

in the company of a long darkness. 

As if she had been anticipating him for a very long time,

for his gaze to meet hers,

to peek into the porthole.

A conduit of truth.