Give Me

I offer you a bouquet of old dry thistles,

And beg you accept them on bended knee,

I cajole you come whensoever I whistle,

and serve no other than cruel, selfish me,

I will grant you my love, ugly as it is,

for I see you are lost and in need,

I will drown your sun in teary mist,

and sour any moment that was sweet,

for this is the giving I know to be love,

as a poor wretch who runs from themself,

and were you to see sense and rise above,

you would leave before I dump you on a shelf,

mine is the love which poisons young hearts,

spoils the good knowing not what I do,

mine is the love you should shun and tear apart,

before what I am becomes part and parcel of you.

Reviews

[Vidya Bacchus]

I don't care what anyone says I really like this one .All too often people would rather to be with someone who treats them like crap than to be by themselves.The fear of being alone is one that sometimes cripples a person.Why are we so afraid to be alone?I wonder i say it is the human condition.

[LovingJoy]

Thanks for the positive appreciation of the piece. Interesting question, bullies shepherd people into corners with their cruel words hidden in sugar, and when you look into domestic violence and psychological abuse the perpetrators pretty much all follow the same pattern, it's called micro-mysogeny (translated from Spanish), all those little things that undermine a person's confidence accidentally or on purpose.
We are a social animal, don't you think? Everyone wants to feel loved, and as you say, many of us are afraid to be alone, it can cripple/chain a person, sometimes for emotional reasons and sometimes others. Until people accept only they themselves can give themselves the love they deserve before accepting love from others we will go round in circles of fear, loneliness, chasing a chimera (which only occurs in films and novels), and at the worst emotional abuse by some.
But who am I to comment, I have no idea of a lot of things.

[Vidya Bacchus]

very well said fellow poet.We need to be able to love uurselves before attempting to love someone else.

[Joiedevivre]

no, i do not believe that.

[LovingJoy]

Sorry to have to ask - What don't you believe? I'm perplexed... (or more likely I'm maybe just dim-witted/slow on the uptake). What was it: "If you have to ask you'll never know.", I am guilty.

[Joiedevivre]

i don't believe the love of the writer to be so destructive, i believe the writer is hurt, but maybe this is what the poet is trying to say?

[LovingJoy]

Wow, another person..., I see I was way off the mark writing this one; no doubt the character has their inner ghosts and demons, everyone expresses their hurt one way or another, but it was about serial lotharios who through selfishness do more harm than good and are the "friendly face" of psychological and at the extreme end of the scale domestic violence, as in a patriarchal culture this psychological violence dressed in "love" often goes unseen. Me thinks I need to re-write this much. Thanks for the input, it really helps a lot, thank you.

[Joiedevivre]

in that case, on the nose, don't change it, it expresses that perfectly, but if a lothario were to tell me this, i still wouldn't believe them :)

[Ees]

Brilliant. It all makes sense, the flow and concept are easy. And I mean that in a good way, in my opinion only good writers can achieve ease with their readers.

In terms of the concept I think that it is a fear that many people have. But I don't know... while reading this, you do nothing to make me want to run away, you make me want to sit there and be poisoned, I suppose because a girl always believes it'll get softer.

Really great job with this!

[LovingJoy]

Thank you very much, really, that is most kind, not good at poetry just want it to be palatable. BTW: Run...run...there are too many wolves in sheeps clothing eating hearts! Seriously, yours is a very interesting perspective. Once again, thank you.