PART I.
He saw her and knew.
There were no words, as he spoke not at all,
and she, reduced to gestures of hands and fingers
learned to speak with her eyes.
And they were full of a tenderness
so profound
he would have shed plastic tears
had he possessed the capability for emotional expression.
She saw him in a toy store,
a plastic Atlas holding up the Lego World display,
standing alone and strong
among the cold and indifferent GI Joes and Barbies
who snickered ruthlessly behind stiff paddle hands
attached to bendable limbs.
The feel of her warm hand
in his plastic appendage
sealed their fate.
PART II.
The security guard's brow
lifted with questions
as the bell above the door jingled with her entrance.
Three months,
the same pattern--not a day
missed.
He yearned to speak to her of his dreams
of a life beyond the toy section,
to take her dancing,
to tell her he thought her
beautiful.
She so desired to show him
a world full of movement,
of warmth,
of sunlight after a
world lived under fluorescent bulbs.
And among the overflowing, colorful
flower-beds of merchandise,
Their love grew.
Until--
That fateful day.
A flurry of hands grasped her arms,
pulled her screaming from his embrace,
Judgmental voices read her rights
as he looked on in horror.
Weeping, she was escorted from his world,
handcuffed and disgraced.
Had anyone looked back, they would have seen
a plastic hand outstretched,
and anguish etched in Lego eyes.
PART III.
She covered her eyes, shutting out
the searing white walls,
the padded corners, blinding lights,
the barren expanse of the room
that echoed the barren void of her heart.
Her mind drifted
to loving black painted eyes,
the solid reassurance of his breast,
the sheltered cage of his extended limbs
and the love she had known there.
A love so pure
it transcended flesh and plastic.
A sudden crash--
Alarms shattered the heavy silence,
drowning out the visceral screams of terror
muffled by the heavy padded door.
She sprang to her bare feet,
as the door blew off its hinges
and he shuffled stiffly in
with arms outstretched.
He lifted her. And was lifted.
Something close to a heartbeat
thudding in his hollow plastic torso
as everything he'd ever desired or felt
came rushing back
in an instant.
The screams had died away.
The survivors, doctors, nurses, orderlies,
stood slack-jawed in wonder
as he emerged from the hospital room prison
cradling his beloved.
His eyes spoke volumes--
were we able to understand,
we would have heard:
"Lego Men love, too."
"See here, fucker.
