Wine's Truth: A Quandary Of Love Poem by Hugh Cobb

in vino veritas
so goes the phrase
& so t'would seem to be:

Mind can lie; heart cannot.
& when mind keeps heart
under lock & key
then wine can seem
a welcome thief
opening lock'd heart
letting it speak its truth.

Thus my quandary:
Because I love you
I long to hear those words,
so sweet, echo'd back to me.
But at its killing cost
a price too high
& one I'd never ask.

For your heart's true song
is known to me
& though I might wish
you could pick heart's lock
or someday your mind
be a willing key,
I'd rather have you
be icy cold to me
than cold & dead & I bereft:
The grave's no place for your beauty, love
nor for your kind & loving heart
You mean so much to me.

My curse, you see, is to love you.
(I have e'er since we met.)
& I know what your heart feels
though mind can never speak.
Which is why I've never
closed my own:
open my heart & vulnerable
it leaves me little choice.
For I can naught but love you
e'en with your heart's truth unvoiced.

& once cross'd over to other side
our masks & roles shall be
dropp'd like useless toys
freeing our shining spirits
who shall embrace & know true joy.
but as for now, that old saw's truth
must sustain me & suffice
as my heart alone shall sing her tune aloud
and I stand, Aphrodite's sacrifice.

(Copyright 1/13/06)