Next Steps

Love is hard to write about

But easier than saying it.

I love you is a password to pain and pleasure.

It can mean everything them,

But can they tell it is sincere?

Can the cadence of the first instance set precedent for the rest of it?

Does any moment have as much power as the first time? Should it?

And does the last time make it all seem false,

an actor encouraging an audience member

To take part in the dialogue of ‘I love you’?

But show, don’t tell is the golden rule. Description over dictation.

So, is an unspoken action more lovely than the prettiest stanza?

Cooking them their favourite meal does not compare them to a summer’s day

But which is remembered for longer?

But the pen on paper bleeds.

Scribbling out scuppers the lines but never fully scrubs out.

Rubbers only remove as much as rigour is put in

And there’s something so tragic about a washed out ‘I love you.’

So there is permanence in a poem

Perhaps more permanence than I am ready for.

Unspoken love speaks for itself.

But I feel that it isn’t enough.

SHAMBLES RAMBLE