LOVE OR PERMISSION
So, through the eyes love attains the heart:
For the eyes are the scouts of the heart
— Giraut de Bornelh, troubadour (c. 1138 – 1215)
I asked a man I was in love with once
if he was in love with me. No, he said.
Nor did he believe in romantic love.
I found that confusing, for what
had we been doing, I wondered,
shrinking to play-act in a doll house?
Riding the unicorn with ivory mane
and phantom horn? Now he suggests it’s
a film set we’re on and he’s the stand-in
for the star asleep in his trailer deluxe.
Still, over candlelight I watched his eyes
pool when I told him they were beautiful.
If the eyes are the scouts of the heart
let’s not blame them for every dismal recruit.
What the scouts look for and what they find
is permission to enter.
M. NASORRI PAVONE’s poetry has appeared in River Styx, Sycamore Review, New Letters, The Cortland Review, Harpur Palate, Rhino, DMQ Review and others. She’s been anthologized in Beyond the Lyric Moment (Tebot Bach, 2014), and has been nominated for Best of the Net and twice for a Pushcart Prize.
Read more by M. Nasorri Pavone
Poem in Citron Review
Poem in Sundress Publications
Poem in Wild Goose Poetry Review