One

When I consider what you mean to me
It is a fact I’ve come to realise
That you’re my closest link to paradise
Despite what wise men try to make us see.

They caution us against idolatry
And tell us that we should not jeopardise
Immortal life for anything that dies:
And not to be bemused by mere beauty.

It seems ungracious not to take delight
In day because it turns so soon to night.
Eternity is always here to stay
It’s only you and I who fade away.

You are my here and now my present tense.
I hope you will excuse my diffidence.

Love does not always find a way: but gives
A promise that it cannot be destroyed:
It’s even killed and buried: yet it lives
In every heart in which it’s crucified.

Love is sheer joy. But has to suffer you
And me. It can’t avoid its Calvary.
Silent. Unseen. Transparent, pure and true,
Rich in its own reward of poverty.

When we can find no one to whom to turn
On nothing but on it can we rely
To consume us, or else we can but burn
In just the fire we persecute it by.

Love cannot help but always wish all well.
To deny it, is to plunge into hell.