Love Poem: A Promise
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Written by: Lebo Bopalamo

A Promise

The first drop,
and each one after,
merge in a cluster of blissful storms 
Flourescent 
dreams lie in wait
for every rising degree of fervour

Scattered
sunshine ceases to blind compelling faith 
Smiles prosper like figs
And the unremitting truth is
rooted to the same spot

Artless passions meet like tributaries 
Conjuring reason from a mingled need,
In innocent worlds, 
unspoken wishes reside 
First,
in natural harmony with denial and pride 
Then
growing ever restless at every count
of our heartbeats
And the unsettling truth that “together” may
sound so sweet,
Like rivers, fate is a natural flow
But unlike rivers, we insist we know
That together, we want a place in the sun, 
while rivers simply flow into one

The mind carves itself an endless wonder, 
Than despair in splitting emotions like hair 
Every thought, 
bringing contentment near 
Like the inevitable meeting of rivers, 
Joining all split emotions in us 

The notion stands two feet 
from a choking relief 
At the ultimate guile to slip away
and firmly believe
That the flimsy cravings of a juvenile 
conquest
Offer little comfort for a sincere request 
That
I must gather the courage to say what I 
should
And turn away from distracting prophesies 
when no ending could make me feel
like she would 

Questions and answers fade into sincerity 
but time commutes to foe
We count
flakes in the early snow 
And discard intimate
petals from budding promises 
Dreams are now
separated by endless seas
The resounding waves
drowning all screams of despair

A gaze back through time
or an aimless flow further
Cast all unwavering glances
wide of a withering star
The once prosperous smiles
now stretch agonizingly into grimaces 
Sunsets turn from gold to grey
And only mornings
still the wailing din inside
Comfort
swerves abruptly beyond definition 
Every second word is silent
Emerging
only in poetry
Hardened hearts fend blindly for 
themselves
while minds feverishly stunt distant 
rapture

We lose the man in the moon
Heart shapes twist into mangled triangles 
Fear accompanies love…
and all visions of the promise