If You Really Love Me And Love Me Truly Enough For Me To Believe You Poem by RIC BASTASA

then,
you will point to me where my hidden mole continues to grow,
where is my
secret wart that nobody has ever seen

then, you will love the scent of my armpit unwashed for
ten days and you will sleep soundly on my
arms

then you will like my callous hands rough to your lovely face,
you will clean my teeth with the licking tongue of yours,
you will love to breathe my breathe though i have not brushed
for days,

you will love everything in me
everything foul and even dirty, and you still love to be caressed by my bare hands
even if these hands too touched

another body last night when you were there patiently waiting
when i did not come on time
when you were sleeping
and your tears dried
on a loveless mattress on a bed where the sheets are not crumpled
where i may say that i
have never for once ever loved you