Beauty's Evanescence

There is a beauty so foreign to this world,
That words alone fail to do justice,
A beauty which many have sought in vain,
And because of which, many have resigned to loss.

I have endeavored fruitlessly to find
This mysterious beauty which is so sublime,
Encountering it only in fading moments,
Its presence so celestial, yet ever so transient,
Slipping through my fingers like sand on the beach,
With only infinitesimal traces in its leave.

In wild flights of fantasy it stands nearby,
Awaiting my presence in its elaborate recesses,
A choir of cherubim chanting, beckoning to me,
My grasp closing in upon the lustrous silver crown,
But I'm left behind in my squalid surroundings,
Where black and white mesh into a dull gray,
And all I can answer with is a hollow heart.

I once traveled to the edge of the world,
With net and pen in my frail hands,
Desperately attempting to encapsulate
Those rare moments of impeccable harmony;
I ascended hills towering over the horizon,
Enraptured by the loveliest of melodies,
Which reverberated through the darkest caves,
And I placed a bell jar over a fractious butterfly,
Yet still I remained empty-handed.

In one moment, when victory seemed consummate,
When I seemed at the end of the infinite road,
Dipping my hands into the sweet, golden nectar,
In a moment of undisturbed tranquility,
There arose from behind the dissonance of shouting,
A myriad of bullets flying in chaotic confusion;
And the road once more became endless,
While the nectar in my hands vanished.

After a last futile grasp,
My search has since ended,
And I have sorrowfully resigned
To the endless tyranny of time,
Having closed my eyes with one final glimpse;
And when they emerge from their reverie,
I am left with an unquenchable void,
For everything beautiful seems destined to fade.