Words of Love

It is with words I love, and I'll give some words to you.

Take my words; see what you learn and then see what you do.

Ten thousand years ago I sent roots into a soul.

No quite so long ago, my life was pulled out whole.

From the moment of division I believed I wouldn't live.

I needed love for life, but had no joy to give.

Through the confused millennia I helped my heart to bleed;

I killed myself with fantasies and the pain of hopeless need.

I wanted love-to-love, and equal as two ones,

But knew the greatest ignorance, not knowing how it comes.

Love cannot be earned because one loves as one chooses,

And for some unbending reason, one accepts or refuses.

Too bad for wordy me this took so long to learn;

I hurt myself and others with my personal concern.

And yet I know I have loved and have been loved along the way,

Though lonely, loveless words are all I have today.

Words, loveless words with which to give love breath,

When compared to love itself are as alive as death.

From Handmade Poems, 1968