From the Outside
A Poem for Falling in Love
I didn't feel her, exactly,
Fate's Temptress,
her finger beneath my chin
tilting my face to look upwards, just then,
in time to watch you enter the room
A gust of fresh air
to enliven the stale jaded dimness
My hands held onto a worn-in guitar
Strumming gently I fumbled a beat
You noticed, I think
That's when you turned to look,
to hit me with the fullness of your gaze
From the outside,
nothing seemed to happen
as my world within transformed
and my core became embers
growing brighter with each breath
Fierce bellows out of nowhere
but your quiet open stare
I swear you watched those black coals come to life
after years of being cold in the dark
From the outside,
just a subtle soft glow in my cheeks
I kept singing the words of a long-ago lovesong
suddenly relevant again
waking up from bored sleep
Tired memory washed up to be purged by new fire,
old pain swept away in the undertow,
leaving nothing but the promise of Again
Let's do this again
I will open up
Again
From the outside,
I remained a Girl on her stool
singing songs about Freedom and Love,
and all around us people nodded their heads
keeping rhythm with closed eyes
and smiling to the croon of my voice
The little fire grew warmer
in the pit of my stomach
dancing brighter and careless,
maybe reckless
Bright beauty is hard to ignore
A small voice warned against
the burn of hot flame:
Do you remember the shouting?
The betrayal?
The shame?
How you longed to rip open your chest
to excavate the pain?
Yes, I remember,
the way a mother recalls the birth of her child after the passing of time:
Sure, it hurt, but it wasn't all that bad, really,
Let's do it again, let's have another
Just look at the life we've brought forth,
the Joy!
The eyes open now to miracles,
the heart aware now of its unending capacity to Love
to go deeper into the meaning of Life
From the outside,
I kept singing
There was nothing else to do,
until after the stage lights went dim
and I could lay down my guitar
—the armour of performance—
and ask you to buy me a drink.
About the Creator
Kate Sutherland
Kate is a Song-writer, an Artist, and a Kung Fu Teacher. She loves exploring a multitude of creative paths, and finds joy in inspiring others to do the same.
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