Truce

15 March 2026

https://poems.culturing.net/2026/03/15/truce/

Was Vanda a test? Did you want me to bare my teeth,
to prove that I won't take abuse, that I'm stronger than you
and can therefore protect you? This would prove Masoch's original true.
The currents of the unconscious may indeed move something like this.
You are not the first woman to test me so. But I don't know.
I still wonder how such a beginning could be overcome
when it comes time for trust and real love. It's a shaky start.
Will you test me again, and continue testing me, all the way through?
At what point do I pass? It would be exhausting to endure
eternal testing, to the point of nullifying any benefits of love.
We would need to discuss this. I would of course hope
to prove my strength, but also to be loved through moments of weakness.
I'd offer the same in return.

Or have I already failed to offer the same in return?
I think not. I was open to meeting, discussing, but you were not.
I would like you to see how you might improve. We are handling
fire (I have said this before), and these feelings will hurt us
unless they are handled with care. They may hurt us anyway, but at least
we might try to contain the blaze, to give them shape, to let them
grow with as much ease as nature allows. I can see it.
I'd like to use strength to build love for both of us,
not to fight. So I will stop fighting. I call a truce.

But time has run out. The show is over, and if you don't
step off the stage and into the body of a real girl,
or, better, the body of a real woman, ready to meet life's demands,
then I can do no more for you. I am done watching. I've seen
all I needed to see. I would try to love you.
But not if you don't try too.