Aesthetic

ROBERT REID: FLEUR DE LIS

Mr. Campbell decided

to allow me to leave early 

for being a fantastic worker.

The only thing I felt fantastic about

was spending time working at the museum

with Lydia visiting. 

Ever since she started visiting,

waking up in the morning 

was not so difficult anymore. 

"Hey, how about

we go to the Conservatory Garden?"

If you're paying taxi fare,

then count me in. 

"You jerk," 

she laughs,  

"fine we'll walk." 

While walking through 5th Avenue, 

I noticed her hair,

for the first time, was down. 

It perfectly shines 

along with the sun.

Lydia, I never asked. 

Is your hair blonde or 

brunette?

"Naturally, brown 

but my sister convinced me

that ombre would look 'bomb' on me.

And yes, she said bomb."

I stopped walking,

and she stood there confused. 

In a city of eight million people,

the city was suddenly uninhabited, 

yet all I saw was her standing there

with her whole-white jumpsuit. 

The feeling was like 

the first time I came 

face-to-face with an Monet paining:

breathless. 

Lydia is not an ordinary girl,

she is the masterpiece 

of an painter who has been 

trying to make it. 

The painter who will be known

because of that masterpiece. 

Your sister is right, 

it is bomb.

"Very funny,

you held up walking pedestrians

to admire this wreck of my hair

who should be ashamed to be called ombre."

We made it to the garden,

and it was worth the walk.

Every flower that blossomed

seemed to go along with her. 

We walked around the garden,

hand-in-hand,

and stopped beside

a plaque bench, next to

a pale blue flower bed.

"I come here 

whenever I'm stressed, heartbroken,

but mostly to think. 

Sometimes I just come because

even in a messed up world like this,

there is still beauty around us."

She points at the flowers 

next to our bed. 

"Those pale blue flowers are called

 Anise Sage, and they bloom in the fall.

I'm glad we met in August, so you

wouldn't miss a front row view 

on these beauties."

Lydia chuckles softly, but 

 clicks back into her serious tone.

She looks away, and

stares deeply into the Anise Sage flowers.

"I wanted to show you my getaway

because ever since I met you,

no place is safe from 

thinking about you."