Love and its healing power need no explanation or introduction, so I'll leave it there and let you read.
Substitutes for Love
5.24.11
Words are nothing but substitutes
(and poor ones!) for love that need not be
spoken. They are delegates representing
the one whose features are beyond the
ability of our ears and eyes to perceive.
They fail so completely to speak truth,
and in shame they settle for half-truths and worse.
With words we attempt to paint—
But this metaphor is tired before I’ve finished writing it.
Instead, I think words paint us, all over our faces,
with frenzied strokes and startling colors. This carnival
is exciting at first, maybe even for an entire afternoon,
but the flash and bang and zip soon begin to feel empty.
So we abandon the dazzle and the bustling crowd
for the quiet retreat of a simple bed and the warm
body of a devoted lover, stillness falling over us
like a giant quilt. There is everything.
In Amber (Obsessions)
A single image of your face has grown
to the size of a monument in my dreams.
It has crowded out everything else.
Every title. Every place.
Memories have forgotten their own names.
What have you done?
Your name has stuck in my mind
like ants in amber; and like them,
I would willingly die for one taste.
(Click here to read "Love Poems (Part 1).")
