Sometimes the fences
of our thoughts fall down
and in that open meadow,
we know ourselves as each other.
In these moments,
we are overcome by tenderness,
and it is impossible to imagine
anything but love.
Any positions we had,
any delusions of me versus you
any stances of defensiveness or blame
evaporate. In those moments,
we give our everything to each other,
and there is no difference between
pain and joy and fear and courage—
it is all one immense feeling
that moves through us just as wind
moves through blades of grass
all waving as one immense field.
In these moments, which are perhaps
equally forever and now,
there is nothing to figure out,
nothing to plan, nothing to build
and nothing to learn. Though when
the fences are up, it’s almost impossible
to imagine it could ever be like this.
so impossible to imagine not staking in
just one more post, just one more rail.
Great how you start this one, those fences coming down as the emotional landscape of the poem opens up. And the “In these moments…” line is especially strong, I think. It might be all those nothings. One word tugs at my attention, though, up in line 9. The word “positions” as it appears, so closely related to the word “love” makes me initially think of sexual positions, or lovemaking. I think “opinions” would be better suited for that spot.