One Love

 

Once upon a time,

I fell in love with a man

 

He was like the moon

His silver light calming my thoughts

Silent attraction, like a tidal force

Moving inner oceans

 

He was like my father

Considered and knowledgeable

He could explain the world to me

The history of foreign lands

And the origin of species

 

Both feet firmly on the ground

Worldly,

yet inspired by utopia

A rational poet,

a romantic scientist

Cultured and sophisticated

 

Once upon a time,

I fell I fell in love with a man

 

He was like the sun

His burning heat kissed my cheeks

Bright joy

Made me dizzy, gave me calenture

 

He was like my mother

Sensuous and intuitive

A creative soul,

seeing beyond the visible

Breaking down the walls of my preconceptions

 

His head in the clouds

Quixotic,

yet making a change in people’s lives

A poetic fighter,

a rebellious artist,

Indomitable by societal norms

 

Once upon a time,

I asked “who am I?”

If I can find love

In two men with qualities so far apart,

Identify with all my heart

With such disparate worlds?

 

I’m a nighthawk in the moonlight

A seagull in the sunshine,

I’m my father’s daughter,

My mother’s child

Many different worlds unite in my chest

 

Identity is complex,

It changes, confuses

Why even try to define its boundaries,

if love can show me oneness of contraries?

 

(Painting by Rene Magritte)