Discovery

"To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance." Oscar Wilde

And indeed, it is a thing most often sought but so rarely discovered....

*

I looked all about until my gaze fell across the room

And there, directly in view, my eyes focused on you.

At once, I knew I’d found something hitherto unknown

And yet, inherently real, much like the morning dew.

My mind searched for answers as it began to wonder

If all I’d seen and heard thus far had been for naught

For there, in your eyes so vivid and so green,

I found a profundity of wisdom and thought.

Here was precisely that of which I’d gone in search

Wandering endlessly through each long day and night,

Here was all that I needed to know, breathe, and feel

Herein was a rare knowledge of full force and might.

Amazed and confused, I looked all around yet again

Behind and beside me, and even outside amongst the flowers,

But there was no one save the simple reflection I could see

As deep inside grew an overwhelming and great power.

Yes, ‘twas me I discovered in that mirror far across the room,

And suddenly I knew that only when love within is truly found

Will it take root to spread elsewhere in search of another soul;

Only then will it grow to create a depth of feeling most profound.

In sheer amazement and wonder anew on that glorious night

I found that I could, and must, love myself first and evermore

Before the depth of true, divine love would take root in my life

To bestow all for which I longed, and in ways unlike any before.