By Gala
Date: 21 March 2000
I Love You As Incantation
It used be said with awe and wonder,
joy touching the words with glimmering
so that they hung softly
in the air between us
like a prayer from a true believer.
Life intruded,
and if the words
had less shine,
they still meant
I'll miss you---be careful---hurry back
whatever emotion we could pack
into such a small clever package.
Only lately
those three words hang in tatters
like a battered flag
and there's no denying
that the colors they strike
look like sadness, anger---or regret.
Are we saying what we mean---
or has "I love you"
become an incantation
to breath life into
something neither one of us
can bear to
allow a quiet death with dignity?
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