there is no beauty in glue

you aged before me
a girl half my number
sitting cement faced
for a massive fat man
doing free sketch portraits
in the park

i watched your
face wrinkle
and crease
17 to 70
in 22 seconds

the image panicked me
and adjusted my gaze away
to the tiled fountain behind your frail head

tiles
glossy brown and blue
in diamond pattern
held together by white grout

grout is never commended
or given any merit

it is rarely noticed
a person does not walk up
and inspect grout
or take count of each bubble and pockmark
in the coarse imperfection
of its surface

they simply do not see the grout

unless it's green and slimy
of course

a person does notice
if it detracts from
the beauty of the
art

that day i wanted to
become grouting

to meld between those tiles
and escape mortal form
to not detract from your beauty

i just need to stay clean
and that's the hardest part