Love is a
four letter word,
and like a vagrant
roams through
the streets,
tattered,
with no meaning or
sustenance.
Ricocheting from dark
corners, muttering
among the fragrance
of flowers,
nestled under
the boughs of
trees.
It masquerades in
exotic perfumes and
soft sheets as
something it is not.
It dances through the
written word in
never ending chapters
of passionate verse.
There is no definition
that makes it understood
to someone who has
never felt it.
There is a
metamorphosis
with the years,
with the sun
with the night.
It is the mother’s womb
which warms a new
beating heart.
The first touch, the
first kiss.
The indelible mark
on another soul.
It is the look
and touch
that caresses
with the urgency of
unspoken longing
and slowly changes to
comfort and contentment
without the hunger that
once obscured all else.
It is a paradox
of contradictions.
You cannot see it
but it is present.
You cannot hear it
but it has a
language heard
by all.
It is tasteless but
there is a taste
that lingers.
It is timeless and will
forever lay on the skin.
Beyond age,
beyond the bond
of flesh
and beyond
the grave.
Valunas is a retired nurse from RWJ Hospital. She is a current member of the Bridgewater Writing group. She is a recipient of the Middlesex County College Tri-state Writers award and has had the honor of being published twice in U.S. 1. She is a New Jersey native living in Monroe with her husband, Joseph.
