Peace Poem by Maggie Doyle

I have loved you;
I love you.
So how am I not to
love you in future?
Break off?
Like a branch in a storm?

We’re no longer blessed
by a tempest.
Instead, emptiness:
silence, peace,
not beating brains,
nor our hearts, at one time almost lost to us,
the whispers of their insane paces
giving us their bearings.

Now we’re temperate,
simpler, more intelligent,
moving logically
from thought to thought.
Trustworthy, too: there’s no guesswork
or thrill at risking, wondering if
there’s right or wrong
in the sentiments we try on.

You sense less love in these changes
where I find more.
You are ready and free,
happily unsteady.
That instability
is all that remains between us.