LOVE AFTER LOVE

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

What if the guest you polished and shined the room for was yourself? Would you light candles, arrange flowers, prepare a special meal? Would you pour wine? Would there be cake?

Ask yourself: “Who else are you waiting for?“