Hail Aphrodite

Hail Aphrodite

Write me a love poem with Lilies of the Valley folded in its lines.
I’ll take the crushed insects in your flower’s goblet—
as long as they’ve died drowning in your nectar, giving life
to these lines—I know there’d be one gasp there for me.

Write me a love poem with daisies budding of your back—
let their golden pollen make you sneeze and don’t apologize.
In the morning you will see they have turned into a vegetable garden
where I could plant my seeds and grow a dream or two.

Write me a love poem with pomegranates bearing down their bushes—
let me fall and rot to the ground, sweet juices will flow
from my fingers and as you bleed in me I’ll bleed in you
and we will call it love. I will teach you the ways of the heart.

Write me a love poem where almond trees have just outlasted winter.
Let your words be the first to bloom in spring, bring honey bees
to flowers and lovers to our tree, and remind the traveler to follow
the stream of his chest, for peace will find him too one day.

Write me a love poem with daffodils yellow as the sun.
Bring me the moon and far constellations to count as my own
and I will give you the crown and scepter to my kingdom. Jacob’s stars
laid at his feet yet he preferred the sand’s soft touch between his toes.

Love me a written poem at my feet, be the beating heart that bleeds
between my fingers, bring the golden pollen of spring to lovers and bees,
teach your heart the nature of trees and dream inside my pomegranates bushes.
I will teach you peace if you seed my constellation in your garden.