A Love Poem In Extremis Poem by Daniel Brick
A Love Poem In Extremis
I love you with the slowest love
on earth, love embedded
in the mineral existence of canyons
and chasms, stretching across continents
and centuries past counting.
I love you with the patience
of a gardener who waits
sixty years for one flower
to bloom. Through sleet,
through scorching sunrays,
he lavishes his lonely care.
And on a dim morning
of his old age, a scarlet flower
shines. No longer alone, he breathes
its bright fragrance as night descends.
I love you with my love of books
because reading long hours of solitude,
turning page after pages brings
ever closer the secret of delight,
until it is revealed to one alert
to the other language of composition,
a parallel language not of words
but of alien sounds audible only
to the lover's inmost hearing, poised
to change very character into
the beloved. Every book I touch
becomes our love story.
I love you with the passage of night
into day. Flung against columns
of darkness, I stumble across blank fields,
through waters without memory, up hills
wit no vistas. I drop to my knees and grope,
a blind man yearning for your light.
And suddenly I see your face in a star-cluster!
The stars fade into morning. I arise
and your presence is still warm
with their distant fires. I greet you
suffused in beams of sunlight.
One of the best love poems I have read so far! 'I love you with the slowest love on earth. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I love you with the patience of a gardener who waits sixty years for one flower to bloom. Through sleet through scorching sun rays he lavishes his lonely care And on a dim morning of his old age A scarlet flower shines.No longer alone, he breathes its bright fragrance as night descends'
daniel, you had me with— I love you with the slowest love on earth... what a cool unpretentious line and hook for my interest. i'm guessing that how do i love thee must have been in mind as you wrote this. but i think e.b. browning would have been pleased with your variation. i also especially like the third stanza—it is so you and ends perfectly with Every book I touch becomes our love story. cool! glen
You were reading something else while you were reading. You traced creative expression back to its source in oceanic love, but you also paid your realization forward, watching how it gets implanted in a growing thing, in a striving youthful life with its inchoate longings. You watch the life-giving cosmos assume a human face that is turned toward two worlds, first toward its individual unfolding. Through love you identify with its direction, to what ultimately ushers it outward, beyond one person's aims, always drawn toward its future by the telos of oceanic love. // In preparing to write this, perhaps you engaged with Rumi, or with whatever such a poet as Rumi engages with.
Your comment is so comprehensive it opens wide my poem to receive further (really f-u-r-t-h-e-r) meanings I had not thought of. That is quite simply CREATIVE READING on your part and I willingly embrace these extended thoughts I did not think of. Rumi is indispensible but my favorite poet for OPENING THE MIND is Rilke, who wrote EVERYWHERE TRANSIENCE PLUNGES INTO DEEP BEING. DEEP BEING.
Just now I commented according to my own overarching scheme. After reading the other comments, I admire their empathy and wish my comment were not so abstract, but I will leave it for reference. Your poem does not just express...it embodies the travail of searching for togetherness; it ends with the warm, sun-like presence of interpersonal love.
I love you with the slowest love on earth, love embedded in the mineral existence of canyons and chasms, stretching across continents- and centuries past counting. - - - - - - - - - - - -Such profound expression of love , such beauty, and such depth - - -! ! ! !
'I love you with the passage of night, into day. Flung against columns of darkness, ' is beautiful. Such a nice love poem. Reading again.
I vote with Bharati. One of the best poem that I have read on ways of loving. Simply beautiful and unique in its images. Nothing pretentious or superficial about it.
Delivering Poems Around The World
Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge...
4/23/2024 5:35:50 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Simply sublime. A love poem of great magnitude. You have expressed your feelings in the most beautiful way there is. Every book I touch becomes our love story...what intensity of feelings! The poet sees his beloved in stars n when they fade, his beloved becomes the sunlight...divine expression. Loved it.
This is the reply of one who went every step of the way with the poet.