Too Romantic?

     I thought I could never get this poem published. It's hard to know if a poem is too emotional or sentimental or overly romantic. In a book on poetry by poet Ted Kooser, there is a poem by another contemporary poet which Kooser said was dangerously close to being too romantic. I thought, "Well, then I must be a downright sap, because I actually think it's somewhat restrained." Compared to Barrett Browning, Byron, and Shakespeare, in fact, I thought it was pretty darn tame! This is why I think many of my poems are unpublishable; but I've discussed (whined about) this at length in earlier posts.

     So I'm very grateful indeed to the editor of Decanto not only for accepting this poem, but for accepting it with alacrity. There are still a few editors out there who embrace the romantic.

     The Falling

     There was something in your soul
     that wrapped around my reason—
     lyrical, warm, and lovely.

     My mind stood still, so it might
     fathom the fugitive light
     that spoke to me through your eyes,

     so it might plumb the shadows
     that softened the sharp corners
     of your uncompromising

     yet humble intelligence.
     My restless hands stretched, yearning,
     to learn the complex texture

     of your deep simplicity;
     the once insensate days pulsed
     with the rhythms of your voice.

     I rejoiced in the rapture
     of knowing that on this earth
     burned the splendor of your soul.

© Leticia Austria 2011
First published in Decanto