If this isn't true love, then there is no such thing! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
by John Frederick Nims
My clumsiest dear, whose hands shipwreck vases,
At whose quick touch all glasses chip and ring,
Whose hands are bulls in china, burs in linen,
And have no cunning with any soft thing
Except all ill-at-ease people:
The refugee uncertain at the door
You make at home; deftly you steady
The drunk clambering on his undulating floor.
Unpredictable dear, the taxi driver's terror,
Shrinking from far headlights pale as a dime
Yet leaping before red apoplectic streetcars -
A misfit in any space. And never on time.
A wrench in the clocks and the solar system. Only
with words and people and love do you move at ease.
In traffic of wit, gently maneuver
And keep us, all devotion, at your knees.
Forgetting your coffee spreading on our flannel,
Your lipstick grinning on our coat.
So gaily in love's unbreakable heaven,
Our souls, on the glory of spilt bourbon float.
Be with me darling, early and late. Smash glasses -
I will study wry music for your sake.
For should your hands drop white and empty
All the toys in the world would break.
