Tincture of Tears

A tincture of tears and a triple cross for you
Enraptured by alchemic kiss our teeth dissolve to glue
Not holding hands but brushing arms while walking through the park
Your smile's a heliolithic god that all men bend before
I gazed up at the Sussex Downs, a poet froze in clay
Enacting all those copper songs as in some ancient play
Then further down to Brighton the sibilant sea did rush
I trembled like a Venetian blind remembering your touch
A nightingale choking on a worm
True beauty's always tempered by the fingerprint of pain
So I'll sing praise to your imperfect face
And never count on nothing but your fingernails