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The Nature of Desire by Lelia Thomas

Bathed in saffron light…
A sea of curves,
A forest of limbs,
A breeze of whispers,
In the midnight hour.

Travelling fingers pause…
On rivers of lines,
On valleys of arching,
On silken webs of hair,
In the hour when others sleep.

Yet this tempting flesh,
So tangible and yielding to touch,
Does not make it anymore real.
It is a beautiful piece of fiction–
Blazing passion in the dullness of life.

Tell a million lies among the heat.
I want to hear them all.
This is what infatuation, desire is all about.
To one day believe the lies, as consolation–
To believe we are happy.

You want me for now.
Perhaps that is enough.

Details

In our fear of being alone, we often require so little, even while knowing there will be more pain for it in the end. The first two stanzas of this poem represent the intoxicating feelings of infatuation and desire that are often misinterpreted as love in our world. The third and fourth stanzas, as well as the final two verses, are about personally “waking up” and realizing how hollow and meaningless these relationships are, about trying to console oneself into believing that it’s “all right” and what is, in fact, desired.