Love


I thought I am a strong man. 
I thought I am incapable of love. 
I thought I had enough walls 
                                            around me 
                                            to protect me                                               
                                                               from it. 
I thought I had extricated, once 
                                             and for all,                                    
                                             the need for it                                             
                                                        from within,                                             
                                                        deep within. 
I thought I had succeeded,                               
                                     that I had become                               
                                     a self-sufficient man.  

But I was wrong. 
                Wrong. 
                         To the bone marrow. 
                Wrong.                     
                         To the spiral structure 
                                                           of my very DNA. 
                Wrong. 
I was wrong.   

The need still lurks within.
I can feel it,                    
                  within,                               
                             I can sense it,                                               
                                                        growing.          
                                                       Growing.
                                                       Inexplicable.   

Love.     

     I haven’t learned the art of it. 
     I don’t know how to reach out for it. 
     I have never experienced the tough of it,                                    
                                              the glow of it,                                   
                                              the touch of it.  

Love.           

I have deprived myself of it,                                          
                                         all my life, -                                    

                               the joy of it,                                   
                               the flow of it,                                   
                               the taste of it, -                           

           for fear of hurt,                          
           for fear of rejection,                           
           for fear of losing control,                          
           for all the foolish reasons                                              
                                          in the world.                                               
                                          In the world.  

Ah, the depth of my folly.         
      The extent of my crime.  

Ah, the shame of it. 
       The shame of it.  


Ah, the shame of it.