....Honestly....... Poem by RIC BASTASA

what perhaps i understand
most, is what love is not.

not what love really is.
and accuse of this truth,

that i have not really loved
you at all, sincerely, truly

and deeply, but the word,
coined by you, is that love

has become simply perfunctory,
art that is merely functional,

one that serves a purpose,
never mind humanity, but one

which is self-serving, an abuse,
one for a specific time and occasion

only, but let me think, it is
not really so, i have tried to

live and love and ceased to pray
and hope that i change and that

you or his world will, for i
have never attempted to change

anything or anybody, since the
fact is, it is just this phenomenon,

of me trying to love what i love,
and feeling that i was never really

love, sincerely, deeply and truly,
and i am simply going with the flow

of this river, which i trying not
to diminish itself, at the most,

took the path of least resistance,
from one bank to another, from one

mountainside to another shore, until
it disposes itself to the sea,

here, i am not part of anyone, or
anybody, here, i do not touch

anyone, here i am not touched by
anybody, or anything, and perhaps

after this long journey of this
river of words, now, i shall take

my ending, not necessarily my
rest, for i have never really loved

that truly, sincerely or deeply,
as i was never, too......honestly