Love At First Sight?

Love at first sight?

No; too sapiosexual for that. I do have a soft spot for six pack abs though, but that's not the point, is it? What's love anyway?

A little more seriously, I think that "love at first sight" is but an instant ephemeral enthrallment ~ a crush; while Love is a long process. I could be captivated by someone in a way that would be defined as "love at first sight"; I must admit that it happens to me a bit too often, but I rarely literally fall in love; because love takes time; and time, just like people, is quite fickle.

Think of Others

As you prepare your breakfast, think of others

do not forget to feed the dove.

As you wage your wars, think of others

do not forget those who seek peace

and love.

As you pay your water bill, think of others

those who suckle the clouds above.

As you return home, to your home, think of others

do not forget the people of the camps who starve.

As you sleep and count the stars, think of others

those who have nowhere to sleep.

As you express yourself in metaphors, think of others

those who have lost the right to speak.

As you think of others who are far away,

on a lonely night's spark,

think of yourself

say: If only I were a candle in the dark.

— Mahmoud Darwich

Personal translation in a vain attempt to reproduce the original poem's unparalleled flow.

The Tip

I see your soul perched On the tip of your ache; Stoic, you wait For my palate to sate Your urge as I fold it.

✒️ F. J.

Who am I to say to you

what I say to you?

I was not a stone that water had polished

until it became a face

nor was I a cane that the wind had carved

until it became a flute...

I am a dice player;

sometimes I win, sometimes I lose,

and I confess;

I am like you

or slightly less...

— Mahmoud Darwich, from The Dice Player

Insomnia II

At four o' clock in the stubbornness, I stun my sanity, and turn into a tinnitus in your ears, and subject you to the whim of my craze, and ring and ring the bells around the necks of the sheep you count.

You can go back to sleep now.

✒️ F. J.

End, endlessly

Boundlessness stretches out in front of me Yet forever doesn’t seem daunting at all Instead, more and more, I start realizing The more and more I get you The more I long to seek to know And I know a lifetime can only last so long So I long that day I stop yearning you To yearn the day I could boundlessly learn

Learn to burn

Burn, boundlessly

You’ve put a spell on me Wick and wax dare no longer speak Their transience drowns in sacred necessity

The ache of flame to be

Your loving might very well be the end of me But it will be the end, endlessly

— 17-6-2021, M.A. Tempels ©