A PERFECTLY GOOD HEART, AND OTHER POEMS, APRIL 23, 2024

some fool threw away

a perfectly good heart today

that i found upon my way

and took it home to stay

-----

eden's story wrong

eve herself forbidden fruit

adam had to taste

-----

the errors of youth

the embrace i failed to give

lips i should have kissed

echoes of memory

missed chances unspoken words

touches never felt

regret and longing

reaching back to other times

when i wasted youth

-----

when i see you appear

isadora duncan springs to mind

and i can't help but smile

-----

we commit no sins

when we stop along the way

to indulge in love

-----

a poet showed her

lewd temptations of the mind

most beautiful sins

-----

how open is love

enough to accept true love

any of its forms

-----

you cannot love me

a fact i've long accepted

yet i still love you

-----

tears of love flowing

from the center of her rose

gift for darling bee

-----

soul's constant tingle

gentle scratch at the edges

of secret desires

-----

gift of the goddess

nectar she bestows on me

clear wine of desire

-----

before there were words

there were ancient sounds of love

moans and howls of pleasure

in darkness of cave at

edges of the fire as

would-be lovers circle

in atavistic dance much

like warriors about to battle

and take each other in barbaric

rituals bred into blood and bone

-----

i've said i love you

in thousands of words and ways

yet never heard it back

-----

show me how to love

not just motions and the acts

make me feel like you

• Donovan Baldwin