Love Notion Number 9

I can cope, but if I don't
my world'll crack wide open
revealing my ignorance,
my inability to see things as they are
not as they might be
and all the foolishness
the idealistic love notion number 9
I hold dear to me
would have no meaning for me
nor anyone else.

It would be as if
Picasso never existed -
his cubist painting in the local museum
would vanish overnight
replaced with a montage of
fruits and vegetables
still life and then some.
Pablo Neruda would have written
only crappy christmas cards
withe cheesemongered rhymes
his soul nowhere to be found.

The bold morning, the shine
of the day
the way the sunlight
filters through the window
caressing her face
as she sleeps bundled
like a child in the comforter
dreaming of different people
but then...

The gingham check counterpane
would remain just a counterpane
and have little to do
with it all.