Subtraction by Addition
Pour Barraqué
Love takes away our freedom like a chain
Of need wrapped round the wrists and heart. They feel
And do not feel possessiveness’s pain:
It chafes and comforts them till they congeal
Together into numbness formed of thrill
And calm combined—since love does not desire
Relief. This kind of love is heat and chill
That fills the background and these two conspire
To make us know fulfilment and a lack,
Both twined like DNA to make that one
Thing jive inside us—life. They are the rack
That pleases (tortures), leaving us undone.
We throw away our liberty to bind
Another. Both are freed up and confined.