As lovers do

That fateful night
of narrations of transgressions past
you stood, your soul .. naked
trembling with trepidation,
you, standing knee deep in cold waters,
hoping the magnanimity of an
all-forgiving love
will cover you up
and wrap you
in the selfless compassion
known only to lovers
and saints!
You stood gazing
sometimes at a heartless sky
which would not yield,
sometimes at the unrelenting
cold earth beneath your feet!
Your gaze,
a prayer sent up to
a soulless infinity ..
when love, as love does,
came forth to
wrap you in its warmth,
but that long cold night
that redeemed you,
left me standing
in cold waters
for ever and ever after ..
for often in the act of
dispensation
of one's self,
as lovers do,
it is a part of their self
that they let walk out
with the other,
out of the river
of trials of existence ..
and so
as you walked away with my feet
that fateful night,
I stood behind gazing
as you
walked away
in confident strides
.. walking upon the earth
which once rested firm
beneath my feet ..
before I let you walk away
with them
.. as lovers often do!


- In Atonement