Unignited Love
“The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and for ever”
Ghazals have been around as long as fire
Has filled the hearts, the arteries and veins
Of men with fragrances of male desire,
The smoke of torment rising from their pains
In purgatories caused by those men love.
The fumes of torment billow and ascend.
The objects of these pangs, unworthy of
The passions spilled, don’t try to condescend
To mercy. They just go about their lives
Without the adoration sticking to
Their hair like smoke from fags. Magicians’ knives
Fly past the mark not deadly like the yew.
The objects wait unscathed. They do not care.
The burning ones are left to their despair.
~ Phillip Whidden
by phillipw | Sep 5, 2024 | UN |