raspberry birdmad impaled on a wooden chopstick in my iced tea, slowly bleeding its essence into the cold. the crystals of raw sugar settled to the bottom of the glass slowly lingering over the rich dessert on my plate watching but trying not to stare as she sat across the table from me out the window, and some short distance away, the sun was beginning to make its saturday evening descent the false horizon of the buildings that surrounded us threw shadows around the street, almost a prelude to night but not quite. a bit of shielding, perhaps, from the fiery glow of late summer i glanced at her again and smiled, she chuckled almost shyly and smiled back. "What?" she asked, smiling...nearly laughing, and beneath the pigment of my skin i blushed and rolled my lips over my teeth and grinned like a fool we exchanged bites of the artistry that had come to us disguised as dessert i finished my tea, many of the sugar crystals still lying on the bottom of the glass i pulled out the wooden skewer on which the raspbery still stuck inspite of the rentless stirring i had subjected it to trying to dissolve the sugar 020103 what's it to you? who go blather from