[Barraqué]
The Twelve Tones of Love
Love’s limerence inebriates like wine,
The sparkling kind. It shows itself in waves
Of feeling. First, euphoria: we shine
With thrilling giggle-like desire. It raves
Around inside us, ricocheting, quick.
The fantasies and adoration fire
Each other. Then obsession comes as slick
As sex and puts us on a roaring pyre
Of neediness. We can’t control our thoughts
And barely can rein in our acts. We’re like
Ecstatic monks who whip themselves with knots
On cords to dull passion’s unruly spike.
A pointed icicle, shaped like dead hope,
Comes piercing. Despair and pain elope.