A LOVE POEM

“I am hurt by love But how can love hurt? If my love is true I cannot be hurt.” - Anshul Gupta

Some years ago I read the poem “Love's Paradox” by Anshul Gupta (see here). It stayed with me, although forgotten, and it was only after I wrote my own poem below that I remembered Anshul Gupta’s poem again and re-read it. Different but similar? This poem is in response to the prompt by Poets and Storytellers United.

Love

I love you with the vehemence of sharp steel,

The blind insistence of a blade as it drives itself into yielding flesh.

My love for you, wild like the tigers of the Indian jungle,

All sharpened claws and piercing teeth.

I adore you blindly like the idol of a jealous god, gold-bedecked

Sitting on pagan altar on a forgotten isle.

I love you with the gentleness of falling rain,

The persistence of water as it soaks deep into earth.

My love for you, as tame as a newborn puppy,

Whimpering, blind and helpless.

I adore you as I would a precious icon that adorns my wall,

Reminding me to pray each moment for your well-being.

And as you come to me like a caravel laden with precious cargo,

Spices from the Indies, perfumes of Arabia, gold and jewels

And ebony from some exotic shore – 

I am diminished and yearn to yield myself to you,

To enchain me to your sovereignty for evermore.

And as you come to me naked and unadorned,

Redolent of sweet perfume that the flowers have borrowed from you,

With soft uncombed hair whose lightness is stolen by the breeze,

I seize you and enraptured I overcome resistances,

Ravishing, conquering, enchanting and in turn being bewitched.