Monday, February 16, 2015

Love's Hinge


I recited this poem to Emily today as a sequel to the proposal poem. It seeks to express how our relationship/love changed after getting engaged and expressing love and lifelong commitment toward one another for the first time. 


Love’s Hinge

A question,
An answer.
Everything changes, 
Nothing changes. 
I fall in love, 
In love was I.
And on that starry night 
Did fall 
Into a river;
A coursing river
Course unchanged, 
Newly found
And yet the same. 

When did I fall? 

A question,
An answer.
Everything changes, 
Nothing changes. 
I fall in love, 
In love was I.
And on that sunny morning
Did something hatch; 
Soft, warm feathers
Betray a lifeless source, 
Newly born
And yet the same. 

When was it born?

A question,
An answer.
Everything changes, 
Nothing changes. 
I fall in love, 
In love was I.
And on that windy autumn day
An oyster’s mouth did open; 
A pearl of beauty
Grown unseen
Changes not,
Yet newly beams.

When did it shine?

To fall, to hatch, to shine;
To love. 
Within a moment
To change the changeless course
We trod. 

My love for you
Is not the same; 
My love for you 
Is not different.

I love you.

Proposal Poem


Here’s a Question

I love you, Emily

I love you. 
These three words I’ve longed to say, 
But did delay
That they might prove even sweeter. 

Like a pearl within an oyster, 
The beauty of this phrase 
Grows and thrives
Enclosed in words unspoken; 

Within my heart abides
Such love for you
It cannot be hidden

It should not be hidden

It will not be hidden
I love you. 

And if you find within your heart
A pearl of likened beauty
Which from the start 
Did grow unseen, 
I ask you, “Will you marry me?”