love notes

my husband taught me to write love notes
but they were all on paper
too much love or longing to bear
we couldn't share
enough

so we gave ourselves this distance
necessary to come closer to love
to be touched by the flame illness carries
to breathe clay open.

we meet somewhere called the heart
a landscape
crossed by three roads
3 sons
young men
learning to love
without needing to rely on notes
left on the kitchen table
to be read,
alone.

they are learning to bear the heat
of love's flame, too.
three
four
five made a loving family
wild with creativity.

there is no right way
to write
or live
love notes.

breathing the clay open
being breathed, open.




inspired by John O'Donohue's poem "love notes"
(c) Barbara Heile