Photo by p0ps HarlowThis is an ode to the complexities and contradictions that make up the lives of fathers and husbands and the enduring love for them of their daughters and wives.

To all the Fathers and Husbands out there, Happy Father’s Day!

There Is Love
by: RJ

In that stern look,
Reciting countless threats of what not to touch,
Of what not to do, of what not to say.
No matter how sharp those eyes seem to be,
Even those windows to your soul betray you.
It shows me something else.
It shows me there is love.

In that heartbreaking comment,
That I look too thin now or too fat then,
That I look awful in my make-up,
That my perfume leaves a mind-numbing scent,
Even those words in your mouth betray you.
It tells me something else.
It tells me there is love.

In that fiery attack at my opinions
That I sound so stupid, so childish, so naive,
That I do not think as well as you
Or that I never will be as good as you..

Even those sentiments you keep hid in your heart betray you.
Because I feel something else.
I feel there is love.

For beyond your look are the eyes that I miss
Beyond your words are the lips I long to kiss,
Beyond your thoughts are the plans that I ardently wish,
And beyond this life is a love I can call my bliss.

So go ahead and give me that look
Pierce through my soul, cut within,
And while you’re at it, Why not burn it, peel this skin?
Grip my heart so tight, crush it with all your strength
Take its life in the very palm of your unforgiving hand
Say the meanest words you can ever come up with
Make up stories, mock me with your melodies
Do your best. And hey, do your worst.

For there is nothing I fear now.
There is nothing I feel,
There is nothing I see,
And there is nothing I long for
But to take this love of yours, catch it and bottle it up
Chain it, bury it and keep it for all its worth,

Because no matter what you do
And no matter how I think
It hits me with something else
It hits me with such powerful contradiction.
It hits me with sorrowful happiness,
With an unmistakable mix of inexplicable emotions
That proves to me — time and again
That you are, after all — all love.

You may be the puzzle I can never put together,
The equation I will never figure out,
The song I can never sing in perfect tune,
Yet one touch is all it takes,
I die in ecstasy in your warm embrace,
And I know in an instant, oh I know it too well
There is great love deep within you
There is love where you are
And I resolve to live and die perplexed
Under its irresistible spell.

———————————————————–