1. In a darkened room
I’m on your lap
You tell me we
Are going to be together.
Teach me what Love is, I say.
You smile, hold me close
2. Listen to this, you say.
Sarah McLachlan playing
You turn up the sound.
She is touched by God, you say.
Is love the sound of God?
Is hers the sound Love sings, I ask?
3. Marriage is sacred, you say,
Send me home to my wife
saturated with your scent
If marriage is sacred, I ask,
Is love profane?
4. What are the mountains I see, you ask?
The ones I see in your mind?
I smile (and think) what mountains?
Does love hide in the mountains you see in my mind, I ask?
5. I make love to you.
I don’t know what to call
What you do to me.
I pretend you take joy in me.
Is love pretending that you love me, I ask?
6. Don’t tell anyone about us, you say.
Is love secret, I ask?
7. You roll over, smoke a cigarette.
You don’t touch me. You don’t look at me.
I’ll meet you downstairs, you say.
Is love downstairs, then, I ask?
8. We are in the same dark room.
I am not on your lap.
We will no longer be together, you say.
You tell me you will be with N.
I will be placed with M.
She will teach you what love is,
You say.
I think, but I don’t love M.
I love you.
Love is obedience, you say.
8. Love is feeling lost, I say.
When Ginny is not examining flowers with a close-up lens, or watching how the scales on a lizard’s back glint in the sun she can usually be found writing. She has been published in many venues. She can be found at www.ginnyshort.com.
