When You Love, Love Poem by RIC BASTASA

when you love
love, do not think of any other thing
like a disease
HIV, cervical cancer, hepatitis
STD,
when you love
love with all your heart
kiss the leprosy in her heart
hug the virus on her breast
love, love, love with all your heart
make love with love
and savor the moment that love has offered
every drop...every moment...every ecstasy...
ever

when i love, i always love, i set aside the mind
i take everything at heart
i refuse to think
about the hurt
the future mess
the possibility of errors
i am blind
i just touch
and feel my way all through this maze

and when love is gone
if ever be
i take all the hurt, the blame, the regrets

it is love in me, it is this self-annhilation
this dying upon oneself for the other

this death
that gives my redemption, my resurrection
it is love
and not the thought of love

the love that is real that dies upon itself
only to be born again