Kiss me, sweet current
Take me into your depths
I want to be washed away
I want to be out of breath
To pair no more my skin
To the lashings of this place
To ride the flawless draw of you
To the end of me
And though woe will be of those
Who stay behind
Beyond your banks
To toil some more
May they touch their tears
To see the fears of mine
Be gone and good
All done
Then let them dilute those salty mournings in your waters
As offerings to those who swam before me
Or after
And give thanks to thee
For my freedom
My floating
My skin soothed
To the same cool blue as you.
#poem #poet #poems #poets #poetry #words #wordsmith #write #writer #writers #writing
I’ve Seen Love
I’ve seen love shine.
I’ve seen it light fires
In the eyes
Of the hopeful,
The lonely,
The broken,
The weary.
I’ve seen it make friends
Of enemies,
And lovers
Of friends,
Families of lovers,
And keepers of thieves.
I’ve seen love kill.
I’ve seen it break
And mar
And trample
And ruin,
Take the soul from the soulful,
And the faith from the devout.
I’ve seen it tear a man open
And spill his insides
Out.
I’ve seen love heal.
I’ve seen it reach across
Continents
And ages,
Pick people up
With the wisdom
Of sages.
I’ve seen it whisper
And breathe
New life
Into dead hearts,
Bring sun
To the darkness,
And peace
To the night.
I’ve seen love conquer.
I’ve seen it rage against hate,
Push down walls
With flowers,
Sign treaties,
Change fate.
I’ve seen it bridge
Great divides
Between men
And millennia,
Spill light
Into the shadows
Of misconception
And fear.
I’ve seen love last
Through all of this
And then some,
Through rage
And riots,
Through times darker
Than space,
Through trauma
And peril
Both personal
And global
Inside
And out
Of hearts
And minds
That have faltered
And grown forgetful
Of its power.
I’ve seen love
As warm as the sun
As ruthless as death
A salve
And a sword
Ageless
And infinite.
I’ve seen love,
And love has seen me.
Rid of Lens
Takes them off
And rubs her eyes…
The blur fades
And the girl unwise
Is seeing crystal clear.
The things she took to heart
The ways in which she bled
Were not from wounds
Of her own flesh
But things doled out instead.
Games of chess
With her as pawn
A whipping boy called knave
Who took the blame for everything
And let it all befall her
‘Til her head was bent
And her heart was broke
And her life became a horror.
Now she sees
The head disease,
The punishments she bore
Were his design.
Her heartsick plague
Infected by his sore
And damaged soul.
Its toll,
A choice
To stay or go,
To stand against
The steadfast wrath
Of pain
And insecurity
Not hers in source
Or cause
Or stay.
The path is clear.
The glasses
Trampled upon
As she runs for her life
And the lives of those she bore.
No more.
No more.
She goes
Rid of lens
And clear eyes to the sky.
Untitled (Condemnation)
The luscious pull
Of divine helplessness
That draws me to you
In the weakest willfulness
I give myself over
Patient and fervent
To the devil who keeps me
Chained and waiting
Swimming in desperation
And desire
On fire
And running toward the flames
Of your rapture
Your limbo
My purgatory
My heart captured
In its own little hell
Burning in your embrace
Melting in your gaze
Smoldering in your absence
Scorched and aching
Yearning for your touch
To condemn me again.
His Moon
She was his moon
Beautiful and blue
Cool in the void
But enjoying the view
Caught in his gravity
Held at a distance
Revealing herself to him
In light shaped by his existence.
Pulling strongly at his seas
Yet never knowing
The kiss of his salt waters
His ebbing
Or his flowing.
Solitary
Still
She stays faithfully yearning
Constant
Content
In her endless sentinel turning.
Untitled (Be…)
Be the mountain
Strong and constant
Be the trees
Rooted and lofty
Be the reeds
That bend and sing
In the whistling winds of change
Be the bird
Be the bug
The winged and free
Be the pack
Be the prowler
Dance like the bee
Be the tortoise
The dolphin
And the fish in the sea
Be the eagle of vision
And the ram with its power
The willow that shades
The beautiful flower
For everything around you
Is all that you are
Made of this earth
That air
And those stars.
Jill-Arcangela Mancuso 