Lucent
Melanie P. Falina
There was nothing exceptional about her
save for her eyes
she knew this
mused on it staring out into limpid leeward blue
with toes submerged in gritty Caribbean sand
yet her eyes were on the unremarkable side of pretty
maybe slightly oversized
moderately almond-shaped
but never
ever
described as exotic
ever brown
but a deep brown that warmed in the right sunlight
not cold like her mother's
not doll-like in eyes so brown they look black
not blue as the sea or green as grass
pretty brown but just brown enough
and blessed
with long and thick lashes
that had been the envy of many
steadily spanning all her years and still
lashes like her uncle
the one and only time she took note of his
at the Pacific side by side as he pondered on how
waves roll discarded emotions back to us
and she by trial and error
had found the perfect mascara
others had scoffed at
paying three to four times more than she
with underwhelming results
while hers blinked
with despondency
with rectitude
gazing out over the Bay of Naples
and into the Tyrrhenian Sea
envisioning the days of yore
when her ancestors sailed through that sea
and to a life which spawned her
yet knew her not
nor she them
but maybe they would have loved her
her sole superpower was capturing that double-take
the deeper look from men when they caught sight of her eyes
not all men but many over the years
uncanny
still some seemed immune
so she never wielded that talent intentionally
but always noted it when it happened
that alone was the aggregate
of what made her uncommon
but it wasn't enough
when she looked out upon the water
all anyone else could then see
was her sorrow
Melanie P. Falina
Melanie P. Falina is a music journalist and poet. Since 2024, Falina has written and published more than thirty collections of poetry devoted to various cities or regions, places like Rome, Paris, Egypt, New Orleans, the Giant Sequoias of California, the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, and many more. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Falina is currently writing and illustrating a children's book and is a budding painter.