Being loved
Published
Topic
People
(for my sisters, and many others, with much love)
that sudden surge of the heart, when —
from some word, or caressing action,
you realize: “that person loves me!”
Leaping, volcanic astonishment!
Having grown up in a household
where that word was never spoken,
never heard —one parent to another —
never said from sibling to sibling,
learnt only from films or sometimes from the Bible;
a strange whispering,
causing flutterings in the stomach,
and then learning it meant
misunderstanding, pain and aching,
forever not-having
longing for the might-be — but not,
no dreams down that road,
empty horizons,
future turned upside-down,
the bright days wasted;
but then realising, love has at least four meanings:
(thank you, C.S.Lewis)
and as well as the erotic, and the family,
and the nation —
there is agapé
Settle for that; our hearts are restless
till they come to rest
in a place beyond confusing, complicating words.
light
serene
and only love