Spanish Sonnet
I do not love you–except because I love you,
I’ve never loved another before you.
A verb–to love–subject with no object:
I loved my love not knowing how to love.
Love is modified by what isn’t known
and dangles, suspended in the lack like
silence distributing its weight over
miles between driver and passenger seats.
You don’t know how to love, object tells subject.
How many times can a heart bear the words
before relinquishing its grammar?
Lov-ing, Lov-ed, improperly assigned
muddles significance like question marks–
tentatively asking, “Do you love me?”
(first line borrowed from one of Neruda’s love sonnets)
