Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BELOVED by JAMES OPPENHEIM

First Line: LOVE
Last Line: SUCH MAY OUR LOVE BE: SUCH BE OUR PASSION, BELOVED.
LOVE:
To approach you with the touch the sculptor gives his clay,
Subdued, inspired:
To catch in the radiance of my heart the purity of yours,
White breathless fires:
To let the still sea of song in my spirit move toward its shore, your soul,
With dying music: (Oh, hear me, adored one!)

Love:
To watch as one watches the face of the beloved coming out of death,
Every wavering of your lashes:
To feel each fluctuation of your yearning and your desire,
And meet it with caresses:
To enfold you gently until your whole soul slides into mine,
Conquering me with submission: (Adored one, hear me!)

Love:
To meet the dawn together and the widening light,
Seas in our hearts sounding,
To take from a kiss the glory of a dawn in our spirits,
And the arousal to living:
To rise from each other's arms magnified and mighty,
Heroic and human: (Adored one, hear me!)

Such may our love be: such be our passion, beloved.



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