Welcome to Gaia! ::

The wind played with her wound-up hair
and worried it, and wove a snare
with the soft strands, all fine and fair,
that she had bound up with such care:

tormenting it, like tourists do
a caged animal in a zoo.
It took only a tug or two
of its sharp fingers, carding through

her tresses that shone wire-bright,
for it (her hair) to snap and bite,
to worm out from the ribbons tight
and reach to claw at that wind-wight

who with thin hands of air and cold
had made it wild, mad and bold,
had broke the calm it had of old--
like paper ripped along a fold.

She did not know any of this:
no doubt I was badly remiss
not to mention how the sky's kiss
had pulled apart every stiff twist,

but I was so happy to see
her hair untied, untamed, and free,
the tangles stretching hungrily
after that wind, and after me

that all the words I should have said
stuck in my throat like swallowed thread.
Unknowing still, she pulled ahead:
wordless, I let myself be lead.

A/N: I LIVE.

Thanks very much for the comment. In regards the two lines you mentioned-- it's probably partly a matter of accent: I tend to pronounce wild with two syllables and tourists with two as well, but I know it varies from region to region. I might change those to something less squishy and ambiguous, though. I also do need to work on the meter, since I was, ah, less than consistent, yes indeed. The second line of the second stanza in particular just reads wrong. So. Some revisions.