This Thing Called Love

I'm not exactly sure why I'm feeling that my subject of the moment is the power of love. Perhaps someone "out there" needs his or her conviction bolstered to "stand in love" and trust that "love will prevail."

Below is a poem that I wrote during a time when I was just beginning to understand the strength of love.

This Thing

by C. M. Rose

There is this thing,

I’ve called it Love

that has latched onto my life.

It just stands there,

no matter where,

connecting me with him.

I recognized it

when it arrived

and tried to become its friend,

without quite knowing

how to let it thrive.

My friend, on the other hand,

stood up to this thing

and told it to its face:

“I don’t want it;

I don’t love you,”

to make it go away.

And, even though,

it stays.

Perhaps it is deaf

or dumb

or its roots are just too long.

It just deflects the words

like a blade of grass

and keeps blowing in the wind.

This thing is quite unusual,

it has tentacles or arms,

extremely long,

energy transmitters,

active all the time.

It must be based

somewhere between us,

out on the sidewalk or down the street.

Its infinite limbs extend invisibly—

one to me,

one to him.

In the middle of the day

and the middle of the night,

I feel the ominous connection.

Its presence pervades my thoughts

though words often will not form.

A vaguery persists.

The thing just continues holding on.

Its energy so strong.

I may not actually speak to him for days.

For weeks on end his details stay unknown.

But, nonetheless, this thing remains,

refusing vehemently to go away.

I don’t know if I invited it;

they say I probably did.

I have not tried to fight it—

I think I already know who’d win!

So, I’m becoming accustomed to living with it,

this thing I don’t quite understand

that keeps us holding hands.

It’s made the silence thicker;

it has more substance now,

surrounding me with courage and resolve.

Though I may seem to walk alone,

I feel strong.

This thing

has come to live with me.

It’s made my life its home.

And with its calming influence,

I’m better now than alone.

Welcome to my life!

I’m glad you came to me.

I’ll do my best to understand you.

I like to get along.

Always know this

and have patience with me.

I recognize you as unusual; I recognize you as me.

Now that I’ve been living with it,

This thing has become my friend.

The above painting is called "Heart and Soul" -- I originally "saw" this image (of the two faces together making a heart) as I was eating a cup of half chocolate and half vanilla frozen yogurt. I was eating down the center line where the two flavors came together and I saw the line of "his nose" against "her cheek" and the way their chins came together. So, I rushed home and painted it. While I painted, I was listening to this absolutely gorgeous, heavenly Russian Choral music (from a CD called "Sacred Treasures") -- the faces I was painting seemed to be floating together up in the ethers of this mesmerizing music. To this day, when I look at this painting, I can hear the music and feel the love in the poem above.

I hope you can too. xo