© December 9, 2015 by Swami X

“…we are together with the other being,

mutually disarmed and vulnerable.”

—A Little Book for Lovers by Georg Feuerstein

 

Swords drawn

Each prepared

To penetrate the other with our metal

Chop down the tree

Standing before us

Releasing its sanguine sap

Scars from battles past

Cover our bodies

Like roadmaps

One cut

Always answered with another

Raised red superhighways

On a flesh map

            Documenting a journey of struggle

Suddenly

Out of gas

Absent of argument

My fighting spirit

Leaves me

And empty of hatred’s noise

Love’s silence fills the vacuum

Awakening the heart

That seeks to heal over hurt

I challenge you to chance

Taking off your armor

To stand naked before me

Completely vulnerable

Allowing

The scared little girl

Who feels alone

In a world

That chews people up

Like popcorn

To risk falling down

…or falling in love

To embrace

The scared little boy

Who fears dying

Before he has given birth

To the offspring

He carries Inside

Lop off your head

Excise the logic

That rests atop endless plans

For the future

While avoiding the present

Collapse in a heap

At my feet

Where I will stroke your hair

As the spark of your mouth’s edges

Catch fire

Into a toothy grin

We’ve been in combat so long

I’ve forgotten the smile

Beyond the war cry

I loosen my grip

As white knuckles

Strangle your sword

While red anger

Strangles your heart

Unable to trust

What is right in front of you

Needing a long-term treaty

Before you will even consider

Putting down your sword

Because betrayal

Has turned

Words into weapons

Instead of water into wine

I drop to my knees

A sign of weakness

For one who has never

Passed on a fight

Harder on this warrior’s pride

Than his joints

Hoping you will join me

Feel safe

Without having to destroy

What you see as standing

in your way

I close my eyes

And welcome death

Keeping hope

But losing faith

“Fight me!” you shout

Your commitment to winning

A game that has been played

Over and over

And should be

boxed and discarded

Your rage makes you

Blind to see

The fighter is slain

A lover remains

As I live

Not my will, but thine, be done

Unable to relinquish

The fight

Without extracting

Your pound of flesh

With one swoop

Of your sword

You separate

The lobe from my ear

You have been wounded so many times

You are incapable of leaving me whole

 

I don’t flinch

As blood runs down my neck

And soaks my shoulder

You turn and walk away

Leaving me deformed

Too cowardly

To finish what you started

And all I can do

Is kneel here

And pray for death

 

Under the justification of

Protecting the little girl

You have smothered her

When all she wanted to do

Was play with the little boy

Who she could remember meeting

If you would put down your sword