Surrender

Love, when we met, 'twas like two planets metting.
Strange chaos followed; body, soul, and heart
Seemed shaken, thrilled, and startled by that greeting;
Old ties, old dreams, old aims, all torn apart
And wrenched away, left nothing there the while
But the great shining glory of your smile.

I knew no past; 'twas all a blurred, bleak waste;
I knew no future; 'twas a blinding glare.
I only saw the present: as men taste
Some stimulating wine, and lost all care.
I tasted Love's elixir, and I seemed
Dwelling in some strange land, like one who dreamed.

I was a godlike separate existence;
Our world was set apart in some fair clime.
I had no will, no purpose, no resistance;
I only knew I loved you for all time.
The earth seemed something foreign and afar,
And we two, sovereigns dwelling in a star!

My being trembled to its very center
At that first kiss. Cold Reason stood aside
With folded arms to let a grand Love enter
In my Soul's secret chamber to abide.
Its great High Priest, my first love and my last,
There on its alter I consumed my past.

And all my life I lay upon its shrine
The best emotions of my heart and brain,
Whatever gifts and graces may be mine;
No secret thought, no memory I retain,
But give them all for dear Love's precious sake;
Complete surrender of the whole I make.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1892

Happy Valentine's Day (of Torture) my friends...
always,
Claire