X - Constantine

Constantine

Constantine,
I see you at your vanity table
Brushing your hair,
Through the cracked pane of your window
I see you sitting there,
Twenty-three years in this world and you still haven't learnt
To close your curtains to those who may be watching,
Twenty-three years of undressing and sleeping and beautifying,
Twenty-three years in that same room, while all around you
Your family are being born, giving birth and dying,
Constantine, I see you crying
At your vanity table,
I wish I were the mirror there,
Staring at you in close-up, drinking in your every pore,
Constantine, it's been twenty-three years and
Still you leave me wanting more,
I am the silent shadow that you never see -
People never see what they think is not there
But Constantine, I have watched you every night
And every night you seem more beautiful, more desirable
As you sit, brushing out your hair,
And here I will sit, in the darkness and the silence,
Listening to your music as it spills through the night,
You always leave the window open, but I would never trespass,
I am content with using only my eyes,
And, Constantine, I'll be here
When you have doubled your years, when that figure doubles,
When you become a wife, a mother, a grandmother,
I'll be watching you smiling at your own reflection
In the vanity mirror,
And I'll be here when you die,
Constantine, you do not know it, but I share your life.