At length their long kiss severed, with sweet smart:
And as the last slow sudden drops are shed
From sparkling eaves when all the storm has fled,
So singly flagged the pulses of each heart.
Their bosoms sundered, with the opening start
Of married flowers to either side outspread
From the knit stem; yet still their mouths, burnt red,
Fawned on each other where they lay apart.

Sleep sank them lower than the tide of dreams,
And their dreams watched them sink, and slid away.
Slowly their souls swam up again, through gleams
Of watered light and dull drowned waifs of day;
Till from some wonder of new woods and streams
He woke, and wondered more: for there she lay.

When do I see thee most, beloved one?
When in the light the spirits of mine eyes
Before thy face, their altar, solemnize
The worship of that Love through thee made known?
Or when in the dusk hours, (we two alone,)
Close-kissed and eloquent of still replies
Thy twilight-hidden glimmering visage lies,
And my soul only sees thy soul its own?

0 love, my love! if I no more should see
Thyself, nor on the earth the shadow of thee,
Nor image of thine eyes in any spring,—
How then should sound upon Life’s darkening *****
The ground-whirl of the perished leaves of Hope,
The wind of Death’s imperishable wing?

O Thou who at Love’s hour ecstatically
Unto my lips dost evermore present
The body and blood of Love in sacrament;
Whom I have neared and felt thy breath to be
The inmost incense of his sanctuary;
Who without speech hast owned him, and intent
Upon his will, thy life with mine hast blent,
And murmured o’er the cup, Remember me!—

0 what from thee the grace, for me the prize,
And what to Love the glory,—when the whole
Of the deep stair thou tread’st to the dim shoal
And weary water of the place of sighs,
And there dost work deliverance, as thine eyes
Draw up my prisoned spirit to thy soul!

My clouded eye fills with images
Of wringing colour from the ceiling
Like a wet rag;
Of wrinkled stars in April skies
Dancing and taunting me;
Of Native hands meditating, praying;
For what, I wish I knew.

I thought I had found my love
but she was just a name;
a series of letters
that held up all my words.

“Yes.” One word. Say it as often as you can. It’s going to hurt sometimes. But you’ll gain more experience than any textbook can show you.

2. Stand up. Talk to him. Ask him questions. Kiss him. Don’t cower in the corner.

3. Fall in love with everyone but don’t regret it.

4. Open your ears and shut your mouth sometimes.

5. Don’t drag him around like it’s a game. You’ll break him.

6. Take naps. They’re your friend.

7. Hold everyone close. Some you’ll let go by choice, others by force, and some not at all. Love as much as you can.

8. Sit in the grass and stare up at the stars like you’re in a Nicholas Sparks book and embrace the paranoia of bugs crawling on your legs and noises in the woods. It isn’t perfect; don’t fool yourself.

9. Materialism isn’t worth it. Only keep the things from those who have left this world. If they left you in the dust and still breathe, burn the gifts they gave you. It’s worth it in the long run.

10. Cry. It’s okay. You have nothing to prove.

Sofa to sofa,
I lie to therapists,
Sinning my way through each day.

I pin up my cheeks with safety pins,
Paint my eyelashes with tar,
Stain my cheeks with rose petals,
Comb my hair with thorns.

Climbing trees in the dead of night
Just to be closer to the moon,
I dangle precariously from the branches.