Painless Chinese Burns

She had burn-me-bright eyes, sparkling and dancing like spring water, the deepest blue, a multitude of mysteries contained within their unfathomable depths; an enigma wrapped in warm and sparkling azure oceans, and from the moment I saw her, I unconsciously vowed to explore them.

It was spring, and the birds were singing in the trees; we drank coffee and laughed, talked politics and agreed and held hands under cherry blossom.

Her eyes were bold cerise and honey, happy and free, and she stroked my jaw and called me pretty.

We walked down the riverside and she twisted my arm in Chinese burns, but I laughed, because it didn’t hurt, and I kissed her hand, and called her milady. We watched ducklings swim and tried to catch frogs in the long grass. Dusk came and I watched her perfect silhouette until she noticed, and laughing, called me names and chased me home.

We danced in record stores, ignoring the stares, and collapsed laughing when the security made us leave, and we danced in the street outside until we wanted hotdogs and left.

It was summer and her eyes were silver and gold, shining in the sun, precious and bright. We made daisy chains in the grass and King-of-the-Castle wrestled for lordship. I read to her Dostoyevsky and she laughed at me for being so serious. I tickled her ribs until she screamed, and we kissed for hours.

We drank milkshakes and ate ice cream, and rolled down hills together. We watched the sun set at midsummer and she pretended to be a witch and put me under her spell.

We hid in a secret den in the trees as summer slowly died and the green began to fade, and I kissed her breast, then her clitoris, and she moaned and giggled. Old people with too sharp ears walked past and we heard them tut, and, “shameful”, they said. Our cheeks were red but our hearts were warm.

It was autumn and we danced through the leaves, crisp and white with frost. It was autumn, and her eyes reflected the season, brown and red, orange and ochre, and they twinkled with playful mischievousness.

We wore long coats and brightly coloured scarves, and we drank hot coffee and read books, spiked our drinks with whisky and sang our way home, rosy cheeked and merry.

We curled up together in front of the open fire, and made love on the rug, and for breakfast, she made me eggs, sunny-side-up because it was cloudy outside.

We picked apples straight from the tree and laughed at each other as the juice ran down our chins. We took our mittens and challenged one another to duels with pop-guns and I let her win.

It was winter and her eyes were grey and solemn, she told me she loved me and I winked at her happily. We rode sleds together and crashed into a tree, laughing and in love.

She hurt her ankle skating on a frozen pond, and I nursed her, with hot savoury soup and stories of a man in love.

For Christmas, I bought her a necklace of her eyes, silver and sapphire and diamonds and love, she cried when she saw it, and her eyes smiled adoration and she promised to tame the world for me.

She had burn-me-bright eyes, deep and flaming, like the rivers of Hades; a secret place of fury and of passion, and they glowered at me when she caught me staring, and her boyfriend sat down next to her and I drained my coffee and left.

It was spring and the birds were singing in the trees, his hair was blonde and she held his hand and her eyes were blue and sparkled with love.

It was spring and the birds were singing in the trees, and I walked through pink blossom alone and my eyes were green.