I Love You (Prose)

I love you.
Let’s look at this, shall we?
First we have:

I....

It’s named after the things we see with.
It is a designation meaning “self”
It’s what we call our-Selves.
Self – apart from You
Self – with its needs
Self – with its wants
Self – with its beliefs
Self – the first syllable in the word “selfish”.
Self – with its caustic cauldron of feelings that keep many I’s closed
Self – the first thing that was and the last thing that will be
At least to the Self.

Next we have:
Love.
A moniker we use for the feeling we give everything from “strong like” to,
On the other end,
A motivation to
Sacrifice things like
Bodies
Time
Money
Lives
Life
Love is what brings.
Love is the conduit from the eternal to the mortal
(And as importantly)
The mortal to the eternal
Love blurs boundaries
Love blinds I’s.
Love seeps to the lowest point, filling it up
Making the same sound as pure water running across smooth stones
In the magic moments
When it does so.

You.
Separate from I
It’s named after the things that we are made to see with.
It is a designation meaning “apart”
It’s what we call (y)our Selves.
You – apart from my Self
You – with its needs
You – with its wants
You – with its beliefs
You – the first syllable in the word “universe”
You – with its caustic cauldron of feelings that keep many I’s closed
You – the first think that was and the last think there will be.
At least to the Self.

Is it any wonder that there is war?

You and I
Separated by the
One
Word
That could save us both.
We could see
With our true I’s
That there is no Self.
Ultimately
There is only
Love.

I will be satisfied
When I can look into your eyes
And instead of saying,
I love you
I will say only
Love.

--Eric Marley
November 2012

Leaves / Return (Poem)

Leaves/Return

I see brown leaves running down the highway.

They look terrified.

They dodge, jump and skip

This way and that
As they try to avoid the cars.

With a drowned-out crunch and a cloud of dust

Molecules of leaf-skin are released
To the throbbing pavement
And the complicated air

What is left of the leaf, smaller now

Continues to run
But another
And then another
And then another car
Dismembers them
Until finally…

With a great heave
And a simple sigh

The leaf soul returns

To the clouds in the sky.

At first they complain

To the great green god
Who simply smiles a rainbow hue
Until they laugh
And forget the fast cars
And the dark strip of crushed rocks
And remember other things:

Like unexpected warmth

On a wet mother limb

And their first peek from dark bark
At springtime blue sky and
Stern but smiling clouds;

And the young couple that sat in their shade

Looking at one another
In the same way that the great green god
Looks at them now,
Their eyes smiling rainbows; 

They recall the pleasant change

That made them into translucent light
And the peace they felt
As they released
To the sweet earth
That they had always admired
From a distance.

The great green god, knowing the answer

Then asks the leaf spirits
If they would like to visit again
To the place of the
Incomprehensible Dichotomy of Peace and Terror.

When they look back with some trepidation

The great green god smiles
And says, 

“How about you try once again

But this time, as a raindrop?”

When the leaf spirits look back with wonder

Considering this
The great green god adds,

“You can reflect my light back in many colors
Like you did as mature leaves
Except it will be in the sky
And you will give the people hope
And a reason to slow down
And pause, and wonder.”

 Leaf hands then raise.

 And raindrops fall down.

--Eric Marley

November 2012