This And No Other

16 November 2025

https://poems.culturing.net/2025/11/this-and-no-other/

The Lady, pierced by love, reveals her tendrils,
drives through the ground her fingers of love's returning,
and melts the earth, with a heat no longer trapped,
a fire that blazes not just in her eyes, but down her arms
into everything she touches. She is life itself,
at one with the primal urge and heavy memories, combining
both God and sex in holy matrimony, undone
by a cry in the night. She feels relieved, but it is only
for a moment, then the pain returns, but this time
unaccompanied by chains and prison bars, no longer held down or locked inside.
She wonders what comes next, and sighs.
There is no compromise.

--

First comes love, then comes marriage,
then comes the mystery that makes things worthwhile,
the holy midnight kiss between lovers
intent on leaving behind some memento of love
in human flesh. We are all born from this
and born for it, the cycle repeating
since before there was time, and no other
will make amends for the pain we've endured.
It is this and no other around which a home
can be built. It is this. It is this and no other.

--

The Lady learns her purpose, suits up
and readies her heart for the burdens
it soon must bear. She is frightened,
but only because she can sense significance.
The way is not long but hard. No pain
shall be spoken, no groans heard aloud,
for as long as the purpose is served,
all is well. She will rise and accomplish it,
says to her suitor "please come,"
and then waits by the window,
observing an unfamiliar sky.