Eyes

Poem 503 – Windows of the Soul

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

He sits, intently fixing me
with ancient eyes that see and know.
They hold me not directly but
obliquely. Nevertheless, they have
the measure of me, weighing me up,
appraising character and work.
I wonder what he sees in there.
I also gaze into his soul
and find within familiar landscape,
a long lost brother clad in orange.

One of the highlights of our visit to Port Lympne Safari Park was the orangutans. Watching and being watched by someone so close to being a human was highly moving.
(02.05.25)

© Ben Quant 2025

Poem 487 – Old Eyes

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A thousand faces stacked upon the desk.
Rewinding back in time, their faces flux,
the layers peel, year after year, devolving
to disclose the child back at the start.

Upon the floor I see myself, only,
at first I do not recognize this stranger.
The face looking up at me there is not
the face I wear today, its features shod.

But it’s always the eyes that give the game away
as eye to eye we size each other up,
mirrors of the soul reflecting upon
each other in perpetual recognition.

Whilst I’ve been working, my wife has been sorting through old photos next to me. Quite a trip down memory lane.
(16.04.25)

© Ben Quant 2025

Poem 304 – Those Eyes

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It took a while to see beyond the wildness;
those x-ray eyes that cut with lively looks
suggested something stern was brewing within.

To start, I turned away in self defence,
if I didn’t engage then I’d be safe,
but when you swung the battering ram walls fell.

It started with a song. You sang along.
Enthusiastically you raised your arms,
a crazed conductor rallying the troops.

By the end of the song the mood had changed.
The room that slumbered had now woken and
with dancing eyes you winked in my direction.

For an encore, you cracked a mildly rude
riposte then settled back into your chair,
retreating behind those glowering brows once more.

I sensed, those days, that gaze looked deep within.
Sadly, I never could reciprocate,
lacking the vision to penetrate beyond.

Once a month I take a service at a local nursing home. Today I discovered that since I was last there, they’d lost one of our regulars, one of the characters. I’ll miss him!
(26.09.24)

© Ben Quant 2024
Photo by Mandy Henry on Unsplash