Special Feature Collaborative Poem--By Michael Todd and Anna Donovan--United States

Love Always

By Michael Todd and Anna Donovan

Around you I'm unsettled,
alert and dulled
on this double edge
of passion and restraint.

Memories of the future,
Destined to lie unclaimed.
Those who will know no glory,
Merely be forgotten names.

I see saw on the axis of you,
your eyes the epi center
of all that was and is to be.

What might have been, was not.
Destiny and fate unaware.
Misdirected glance, words unsaid,
No perfect union to declare.

That I would've never laid eyes on you,
that I would've known and shared
every moment since childhood.

Still, press on in purpose,
In due time, final bell to sound.
No comfort in the shadows.
Exact freedom, lest be bound.

That I could proclaim this love
on resolute banners
to the brisk beat of galloping horses,
that I could hide this love
to the rhythm of pall bearers carrying
the remains of royalty.

For all of my misgivings,
This shallow world to see.
Know in my heart, what could happen,
She may well someday find me.

Because all the moments have conspired
with each other to lead me through the mists
into the sudden clearing of your arms.