For Love

I 

I miss you as if I was born

from your rib. 

I lived in you, and now I am torn 

cruelly away, a lover from her love 

as a head from its shoulders

or a mother from her child. 

And here I am and there you are, 

affection a string tying us together. 

I say ‘won’t it snap?’, you say ‘don’t worry’,

and all of a sudden, I am okay.

You say ‘I love you’, I say ‘love you more’, 

nothing is settled but no one is torn. 

And I am worn out but 

still a romantic, untouched but 

still being held.

Held by the string, perhaps, that of affection, 

which like you will never falter -

that tightrope we walk 

for love. 

II 

I miss you as if I do breathe 

through your nose. 

I live in you, and so when I leave 

I will not be lost but seen to remain, 

as my mother’s eyes in mine 

and your father’s in yours. 

And here I am and there you are, 

something eternal keeping us together. 

You say ‘what’s that?’, I say ‘doesn’t matter’, 

because after all, we are okay. 

I say ‘I love you’, you say ‘love you more’, 

nothing is known but no one is hurt. 

And I am tired but 

still optimistic, undiscovered but 

still understood.

Understood by you, I know, you from a distance, 

who like me are ever present

on that tightrope we walk 

for love.