Questioning the Mark

Part III · The Des Moines / Post-Military Era (2000–2015)

She had an indefinable kind of beauty-
And yet an undeniable kind of beauty-
That set my heart and mind on fire.
I knew not which desire was stronger,
To possess her, or for she to possess me.

Was I to tell her she was delectably delicate,
An angel with the purest of purpose,
She would decry de trop!
And foreseeing foreshock,
I would demand détente!

I was sure that I cared for her:
To see her cry and hear her sigh,
Would bring a tear to my own eye.
Oh, too many things for me to list-
She held my heart in her fragile fist.

But while the sign shined clear,
Its message brought fear,
For there are two parts to love,
The part below and the part above,
And again I found myself questioning the mark.

Misidentifying misplaced identity,
I often catered to elusive illusion.
Perceptions of the mind often mirror those of the heart,
Meaning if one tends to be right, the other ends up being left.
Doubt is no more agonizing agnosticism than hesitation for healing.

Composed 2000–2015 · part of the Poems collection · authorship documented on the Provenance page.