Who Can Love Poem by Barry Middleton

'So, we'll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.'
From: So We'll Go No More a Roving
By Lord Byron (George Gordon)


who can love
are there rules somehow
that love is beyond fate

yes there are one or two
more basic wants
a roof and a warm plate

then a lock on the door
a picture on the wall
reminding me of home

hermits never stand alone
they love the past
dreams and phantoms

love is the rarest ransom
deeper than gold or diamond
the center of the soul

so fragile, vulnerable
a hunger, our great desire
and yet it can grow cold

hold my hand, my left
and I will use my right
to vanquish every enemy

that's what love is
I stand in front of thee
protect thee from all enmity

yes I will give my life
gladly trade my death
for your salvation

so what should you think
and how can I explain
this strange equation

love another more than life
sacrifice all
a tender and brave conceit

yet look about you
the hunger of deceit
the gift of love devoured

not even blood ensures
that bond
that love doth flower

we make a choice, unshaken
and in the end
love is received like breath

the rarest prize is ours
the hand is taken
we have no fear
of living or of death