I Come from Desire

Desire created me,

centuries of desire

- desire for love & intimacy,

self-worth & power,

possession & conquest -

I know not what;

only that I exist.

Desire creates me still,

desire I know,

desire I claim.

Desire to know

wisdom

initiated my journey.

Named as my quest,

when merely five.

I’ve happened upon much forbidden fruit,

that, upon consumption,

revealed indisputable truth:

evil & goodness reside together,

inseparably entwined,

regardless of desire.

Desire to be

teacher

provided my path.

Recognized as my role,

when all of six,

I’ve restrained my choices,

and controlled temptation,

to develop the persona

through which I am known,

through which I thrive,

because of desire.

Desire to communicate as

writer

motivates each step.

Imagined as my dream,

when felled by two broken arms,

I’ve recorded experience,

and pondered ideas,

only to know not yet,

not yet have I fully revealed,

not yet have I truly expressed

the gifts of my call of desire.

Desire to love

another completely

refines my attention.

Voiced as prayer,

when betrayed by passion,

I’ve longed to accept - and be accepted -

without condition,

only to discover

that evil and goodness reside together,

that goodness and evil are perpetually entwined,

in spite of one’s own desire.

I create through desire,

desire claimed,

and, desire, I suspect, not yet named.

For centuries, my desire will persist,

in having been incarnated

as teacher,

as writer,

as lover.

What will be created, I know not;

only that, it will exist.