<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""><span class="">This is a Love Poem</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""><span class="">(Maybe To Myself)</span></span><span class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span class=""> </span><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">You will never find me on the far banks of the River Jordan<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">I’m far too real to ever be that Promise<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">(As are you)<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">“Finally” may indeed be the story that helps you cross the desert<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">And brings you at last to the River<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">But flesh and blood are the only actual Truth there<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Living proof of illusion and diversion<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Trust me: you will never reach Canaan<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">You cannot when you threaten it with your longing<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Destroy it by claiming it<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Then grasp the empty air<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Which leaves one remaining choice: <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Abandon both shores, and meet me in the river<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">I mean it <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Take my hand <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Lift your feet<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Feel the forever-changing force <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Lift and carry<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Where all of that imagined Destination<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">And all of that storied Promised Land<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">All those dreams and visions of <i class="">arrival</i><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Disappear far, far behind us<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">And we become grateful, finally <o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">To be arriving nowhere<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">At no moment<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="">Together<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""><br class=""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span>- Harold Sloane</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="" style="font-family: Calibri;"><br class=""></span></p></div></body></html>