Dum Spiro Spero - attempt two

Amor animi arbitrio sumitur, non ponitur
Nuc scio quid sit amor
Dum spiro sperabo amor gignit amorem

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We choose to love
We do not choose to cease loving, and I cannot

You are my madness and psychosis
The memory of my summer days

The old love, of a bygone age
I am no longer sure of

In those last days of adventure, I was lost

I encountered something new
And that new thing crushed me
It left me nowhere.

I encountered you after I was left broken
Likes so many fragments of glass,
Shattered to dust on the kitchen floor

I am glad you came to sweep me up

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Now I know what love is, who Love is…
An old friend in a tailored suit, I thought.
A friend I have never seen,
A friend that never visited

The love I knew, I challenged
But Love, I blasphemed.

Now I am sure what love is, who Love is.
She is an opening flower, fed on the breaths of winter’s song
A solemn tune to men’s ears

I blasphemed Love before Love
Enthralled, in love

The memories grate against me
Again, like so many fragments of glass
Powdered to turn my face white

Love
That old friend I had always reserved a seat for
Who never came to the table

Love, for whom I had a care, had left me in free-fall

Love, that friend I thought I knew
I had not seen.

Love
Now I know you.

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While I breathe, I will hope
And as I hope I will stay
On the arcane hills of reverie

I will swing from one to another of your qualities
For you are a rope of dazzling things

You are my kindred tie.

The sun permeates wonder
And wonder explodes in my eyes
So that half the time I cannot see
But lo betide, you come to me
You teach me to see.

Remember that thing you once said that you thought I’d not heard,
And that you meant me to hear but I thought you didn’t?
Well, it was caught on my ear.
And you were right.

You always hold the sun at a safe distance…

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While I breathe,
I will wear the gold hat and bounce higher than high

I will Love
And hope in Love
That Love begets Love.

© Ephraim Luwemba