When I was young, brave, and unwise:

I saw a sunset.

Draped across a face, and blinding my eyes.

Red and silken,

wrapped round a sharpened chin,

Her hair caught such light, that my heart quickened.

Till that day, I'd no idea what beauty had been.

Not wanting to be awkward or cloying,

I cleared my throat.

I walked up the hill, an exercise past enjoying.

I said hello, and she responded in kind.

I told her, truthfully, that I'd come here many a year.

For in this urban hole, sunsets were quite a find.

I spoke towards that sky, allaying my fear.

She though was startled indeed.

She stumbled from a rocky edge,

and then did I gather her intended deed.

My shock gave way to resolve,

as my tone stole hidden grace.

This was not a problem to solve, 

but a battle to save that face.

I asked for her name, 

not before giving my own. 

I did not hope to tame,

but meet her worry with my own.

Shock rippled across her eyes,

as the wind blew about her hair.

Her tone was as ice,

her dress soared with tears.

She talked of her dreams,

and of homes with gorgeous tiles.

There had been movies and books, earning he many smile.

Then hopes passed to screams.

Eviction, force, termination, and a shattered course.

She'd lost her job,

and her home was now another's.

At last she started to sob,

all done with life's countless bothers.

I waited for her to weep,

knowing her pain well.

My own thoughts were difficult to keep,

as my own memories began to swell.

I revealed my first time here,

beneath that mythic sunset.

I too had no life but fear,

and craved a final respite.

But hope came to me,

in that light.

I saw all the lives and hopes that could be,

and all that could lift my night.

She asked what life of her's...

what soul she had to save?

I told her of her beauty,

and of her hair which captured the sun,

and cast its setting upon her face. 

I told her of my own struggles,

Hoping that she would be bolstered.

At last I finished,

shifting to the conquest of her own troubles.

"Why would I set aside my own suffering,

If yours were not worth alleviating?

How is my sorrow abated,

If your life should not be saved?

And more pressing,

what is your own mind saying?

Why should you listen to me,

unless you still wish to be?"

And I saw at last,

her smile against the light.

I braced against her beauty cast,

and her renewed soul's might.

So she left her perch,

while the sun cooled beneath starlight. 

We left then, 

not hand in hand,

but shoulder to shoulder.

For we were both wearied in hunger,

and hoped to keep our company all the longer.