To Make Love Without Love Poem by Sheena Blackhall

To make love without love is easy
Physical jerks and spasms
Cracking a match to flame
Like a puppet propelled by lust

Even in the act of closest union
(The clue's in the sentence)
You remain alone
With the stars, the moon
The surmountable constellations

The lover, the bed, the night
As necessary in their time
As food to the starved stomach

The lover enters the womb
As a visitor soon to depart
Crossing the border of selves
On a temporary visa

Now my breasts are ruined
My face a slab
No-one will come to lay themselves
On the altar of my body

Only the undertaker
Attentive as a magpie
Will brush my hair and touch me
At the last.