For some, love is tame
It is cute and cuddly
Like an adorable pet
Tail-waggingly happy
Purringly content
I have known this tame love
It did not last
Now, I know a different kind of love
A love that is wild
That is nervous and ferocious
Skittish and temperamental
One moment, it trusts enough to approach
The next, it bites the hand that feeds
Such wild love can never be tamed
To cage it is to kill it
Any attempt at domestication
Denies its true nature
Wild love is sometimes fierce
And sometimes it is shy
Yet always it returns
Again and again
Seeking acceptance
Each time a little less afraid
A little less aggressive
Wild love always hurts
But the wounds it inflicts
The pierce of fangs
And the rake of claws
Are nothing but self-defence
For wildness is never malicious
This love comes from the shadows
It is born in the wilderness
It hunts in jungle and canyon
Prowls across desert and plain
Soars over ocean and peak
It is ever vigilant
And breathlessly alive
Wild love can never be conquered
It cannot be bought or won
Only earned, with patience
Patience that teaches understanding
Understanding that builds trust
Trust that creates safety
So that love’s caring instincts can take over
In love’s wild embrace
Defence gives way to protection
Aggression turns into passion
Fighting becomes playful
Wounds have a chance to heal
Even so, love is never subdued
To love is to risk injury
Flesh wounds are part of living
Bleeding is part of loving
And loving without restraint
Or fear of consequences
Is the way of the wild
Wayne Visser © 2017
Book
Icarus: Favourite Love Poems
This creative collection, now in its 2nd edition, brings together love poems by Wayne Visser. The anthology traces love’s agony (“Broken Dreams”) and ecstasy (“Galaxies Cart-Wheeling”), from first blush (“Almost Strangers”) to full bloom (“Say ‘I Do!’”), as we fly to love. You’ve given me the gift of golden wings / The endless sphere of blue imaginings / The chance to rise above the silver clouds / The will to cast off untold ghostly shrouds / Don’t fly too high / Don’t rise too fast / Don’t tease the sky / Don’t taunt the past / You’ve given me the hope of warmer days / The blessed kiss of the sun’s fiery rays. Buy the paper book / Buy the e-book.
