An evocative and intense love poem about longing and desire, by Lipsa, exclusively for Different Truths.

I

Fires rage on this starving earth;
Clouds have started taking on a smoky hue;
Somewhere, far, in the meadows
It has started to rain:
Green trees are getting greener with rainwater;
My body burns from the inside out.

I never knew the Sun could be so vindictive
To hurl hellish flames from the zenith
On one lonely bush in a sandy desert
For missing a date or two,
Or has it been months since we had a proper talk-through?

He has turned his back now, exited the stage,
So to say.
But had he stuck around to bless this destruction,
Leant an ear to the goings-on
I worry if he would’ve had the pleasure
Of beholding the flowers of my pain.

II

Figure in the haze, bright light that flickers in my heart
Come a little closer, bring a little water;
I know it won’t douse the flames
Or soothe these insidious burns;
But I have a thirst building in my throat.

What are you smiling at, crocus of the melting snow?
Engulfed in ashen fumes;
This is no place for you –
This house you never claimed
Is burning; go
Back to snowy mountains
And gaze at virgin skies under incensed airs.

III

I walked too often through that door
Into that ruinous room,
Hoping you’d come again
Even though I told you to stay away;
I paced across that room too often
Listening for any breezes to knock on that door.

But you never came.
You stayed away and he found a way.
He said he’d give my frail beauty a make-over,
This house, where we first met,
He said he’d renovate.

You never came. But he came daily.
And daily blazed his warmth at me.
Daily shone his bright light into my darkness.

Now I stand in the middle of a burning emptiness
Looking into your eyes, searching for eternity.

Photo from the Internet