in vino veritas <br />so goes the phrase <br />& so t'would seem to be: <br /> <br />Mind can lie; heart cannot. <br />& when mind keeps heart <br />under lock & key <br />then wine can seem <br />a welcome thief <br />opening lock'd heart <br />letting it speak its truth. <br /> <br />Thus my quandary: <br />Because I love you <br />I long to hear those words, <br />so sweet, echo'd back to me. <br />But at its killing cost <br />a price too high <br />& one I'd never ask. <br /> <br />For your heart's true song <br />is known to me <br />& though I might wish <br />you could pick heart's lock <br />or someday your mind <br />be a willing key, <br />I'd rather have you <br />be icy cold to me <br />than cold & dead & I bereft: <br />The grave's no place for your beauty, love <br />nor for your kind & loving heart <br />You mean so much to me. <br /> <br />My curse, you see, is to love you. <br />(I have e'er since we met.) <br />& I know what your heart feels <br />though mind can never speak. <br />Which is why I've never <br />closed my own: <br />open my heart & vulnerable <br />it leaves me little choice. <br />For I can naught but love you <br />e'en with your heart's truth unvoiced. <br /> <br />& once cross'd over to other side <br />our masks & roles shall be <br />dropp'd like useless toys <br />freeing our shining spirits <br />who shall embrace & know true joy. <br />but as for now, that old saw's truth <br />must sustain me & suffice <br />as my heart alone shall sing her tune aloud <br />and I stand, Aphrodite's sacrifice. <br /> <br />(Copyright 1/13/06)<br /><br />Hugh Cobb<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/wine-s-truth-a-quandary-of-love/