Seraglio

I cry out if you break my heart
I cry out if I give it to you to break
and I do

I cry

feeding the seraglio of my hunger
I dress my heart in coronation robes
but leave the crown to you

and I cry

thinking I can sweep you off your feet if I clothe my need in splendor
I cry out
when the wave that was to carry us to paradise crashes to the shore
and the sea recedes
and I am left flailing in my sodden robes

the only person on the beach.

The seraglio is peopled with phantoms
impostors who masquerade as lovers
who masquerade as men
who masquerade as people of substance.

Why whisper sweet nothings
when there is nothing in your heart?

I succumb to the seduction even as I see it for what it is
and welcome the love that visits when it does

it is my inconstant light

constant in its inconstancy
it shines through shadow
though it leaves before we reach the shore
it lights the way

love
that is that coddling bright and welcome warmth

love
however fleeting
found
or felt

an hour or a night
a month
a marriage

love
that makes the darkness light.