Love

Love

Image by Giles Watson’s poetry and prose
Love

Love coiled up with herself in the corner
where there was a glow in the hearth, licked
her own tail, and fell asleep. A lintel
collapsed; a rafter fell. Faith kept
the shingles from cascading. Hope filled
the scar where the sky was bleeding through.

Love luxuriated, spread her legs, turned
her belly upward. Love was whiskers
and warmth. Leaves fell; branches gnarled;
rooks deserted nests. Then, nothing was
awake. Love turned, purred; the fireplace
spat a spark. The glass grew dark.

Poem by Giles Watson, 2013.