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Chance Encounter
by ryall Friday, May 6 2011, 11:04am
international / prose/poetry / literature

keep your pretence,
platitudes and empty promises
i am not moved
desist from making hollow offerings;

it is not the superficial
i seek
keep your transient gifts
and meaningless tokens

i seek the incorruptible
(from you)
only one prize satisfies
the discerning taste
of experience;
that cool sheen
the silver glow
moves me irresistibly
to you --
i seek your soul
the priceless pearl
you call everlasting,
found deep within your being

only that indestructible spark,
nothing else is worthy of pursuit.

have you gained in strength
and character since last i
held you in my arms?
have you gained in courage, enough
to venture where you daren’t go
before?

have you learnt that patient,
steady, deliberate progress
always leads to success?

move gracefully
undaunted,
fearlessly;
nothing is able to resist
the singular, relentless advance.

are you now ready to risk everything
for the chance of
love everlasting?
[mystics and poets
sacrifice themselves
on its altar daily]

i was almost over your
callous disregard
and spiteful rage
my wounds almost healed,
your insensitive jaunts
into my vulnerabilities
had drifted into the fog
of unwanted memories
then as if sensing that
i was about to forget --

unannounced and unexpected
you appear
to confront your cruel handiwork;
i hope i did not disappoint,
i am no one’s victim
but my own.

my emotions flayed open
like a bleeding flower
now form trickles of delight,
rivers of joy
which in turn form
shifting, silted deltas
when encountering the
wide, moving, expanse of sea.

[you have always been able
to draw verse from me
like a peasant girl effortlessly
draws water from a well.]

Nick Drake - Fly
Sandy Denny - Listen, ecoute