Love moves me—
Which compelleth me to Speak:²
Whenever Poets dive into themselves
They find lovers Undressing before their poem.³
Her Voice gives form a Dream of love
And pours from her to fill the room.⁴
Harpers Sing and poets make Stories
Of the Love that escapes the years.⁵
What art could twist the
Sinews of thy Heart?⁶
Let us go as we are:
A Free Lover and a Poet.⁷
We learn the whole of love:
The alphabet—the words—
A chapter—then the mighty book—
Then—Revelation closed.⁸
In black ink—my Love
May still Shine bright.⁹
Art is much, but Love is more—
O art, my art, thou’rt much but
Love is more! Art symbolizes heaven
But Love is God and Makes Heaven.¹⁰
¹ Laila al-Sa’ih tr. M. Jayyusi & Nye, The Ever-Deferred Moment
² Dante Alighieri tr. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Inferno
³ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Fady Joudah, Low Sky
⁴ Mary Gaitskill, The Arms and Legs of the Lake
⁵ Ursula K. Le Guin, The Other Wind
⁶ William Blake, The Tiger
⁷ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Sinan Antoon, We Were Without a Present
⁸ Emily Dickinson, We Learned the Whole of Love
⁹ William Shakespeare, Sonnet LXV
¹⁰ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh