poetry

In Café by the Ruins
by Ralph Semino Galán

For Bo, April 6, 2006

Amidst these ruins turned into a café
We meet for dinner, two souls yearning
For completion in the arms of an Other.

Or is it only me, projecting what I want
Like a ventriloquist as most poets are,
Speaking for others, reducing the Beloved

To an extension of the Self, a mirror-image
Reflecting my deepest denials and desires?
Though I have decided to be formidable,

My heart an earthquake-proof fortress
Of fortitude, you have shattered my defenses
With your radiant eyes, your penetrating smile

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