LOVE LETTER

We don’t do platonic,

You and I –

Were always meant to be lovers.

And if I love you for a day,

All the world’s sonnets will flicker

Across my brain,

Set up strobe lighting.

I shall be sectioned for reciting Spenser

In the supermarket.

And if I love you for a month,

A long far holiday month,

Then every candle will be gutted

In every public place,

Unable to cope with the hurricane

Of our passion.

We don’t do platonic,

You and I –

Lovers for a circle of suns

And a cycle of seasons.

Yes, the eternity of a year.

I will have learnt your ways

By then,

How your eyes say yes

When your lips do not move,
How your fingers play Chopin
Across my soul.

It will be like tongues of fire
Where the only language is silence.

(c) Michael Newman