Love Poem 27

I think about the rhythm of love a lot

and how everyone has their own beat

and even how there are people who can’t

hold a beat to save their life and are

forever off-time and out of sync and how that is sort of

a beat just the same.

There are some of whose beats are more syncopated

than those of others and it takes a bit of getting used to

because maybe it isn’t how others

imagine

the cadence and pace to be.

Maybe people imagine love to go

one two three four

one two three four

one two three four

one two three four

or sometimes it is

one two three

one two three

one two three.

Once the beat stars getting away from that though,

that’s when it starts getting easier to push people away.

The question really is who taught you the music?

Who showed you the ropes?

Maybe your role models weren’t perfect

and maybe they taught you a handful of things about love,

maybe there were a lot of things they didn’t teach you

or that they taught you wrong,

and that sort of thing can take a long time to sort out.

How long?

How long does it take to re-learn theory?

How long does it take to re-learn a language?

And sometimes you can’t even read the music, so you

hope

your ear is sharp enough

but there are going to be a lot of times where you have

no ear

for any of it and everything is going to be

herky jerky

and everything is going to be

out of step

and everything is happening out of time and always off the beat

even when you need it off the beat.

Then there are those who us who know too much,

whose rhythmic understanding puts them in a

solitary space

all on their own.

All anyone wants is to let it all flow, and to let the

music be.

All I want is to find the rhythm and let it roll.