You Are More Terrible
love poem
You are more terrible than the sun:
The yellow light of morning,
The trilling gold of memory—
You are there,
In the shiny noon.
Your hair glinted copper, eyes like a lake,
Echoing summer skies and pines.
I remember thinking, wondering, who?
As the world shifted towards you.I leaned to listen, your smile
Ripped me from listlessness,
Igniting what burns and blisters.
Flicker to flame, sunshine.
It can consume,
For you and only you—
my bliss.
Birds flew from my chest,
An eternal sun in my throat.
For the rest let me catch
Stars for you,
And we can split the moon,
Warm in endless day.
I will be thinking about splitting the moon with someone warm in endless day for a while...
“Birds flew from my chest, an eternal sun in my throat” — that image absolutely floored me. It carries both ache and radiance in one breath.
Do you often start your poems from a single burning image like that, or does the language arrive after the emotion?