Love?

When you say love,
How do you mean it?
Do you mean it by the kisses
you bathe me with,
like a spell of rain?

Do you mean it
by your ‘thousand year thirst’
that I would need to quench?
Do you mean it,
by your ferocious wanting
of me, every inch of me?

When you say love,
what do you see?
What do you ‘really’ see?
A temptress?
A queen?
Or a slave?

What really do you mean by love?
How do you measure it?
Do you measure it at all?
How do you name it?
How do you name me?

Look beyond me.
Look beyond the confident laughter.
the fiendish smile,
the barely breathing arousal.
Look beyond the rebel princess,
who doesn’t seem to want
or need anything.

Look beyond the face
you’re so fixated with.
Then tell me how do you mean,
when you say love…