(or... Love for Love's Sake, Ego for God's Sake)
If this is love, give me another metaphor
for Sisyphus rolling that stone uphill
to the feet of Prometheus,
only to watch myself devoured by crows
while repeating never more
again and again
forever
bound to these roles
of impossible analogies.
If this is life, give me another religion
where I am not the second-hand
servant to a golden calf
created in the image and likeness
of a character named ego.
If this is second chances
or third
or even fourth, if one can trust carbon dating
on any day that's not Valentine's
then give me the left hand of darkness
and let me be the one to slip a ring on its finger
and pronounce us complete in the eyes of the
lords of any town that isn't claimed
in the name of ego's chosen ones.
© Adrienne Veronese
14 February 2019
