would you, still?
would …
you still love me ...
perchance I was half a man?
my carnal, physical core blasted from
me like ragged raiment
off to war in courage and heroic sacrifice
returned by God and country as
barely half of what I'd been -
the half that could never
again join with you in passion or
appease your bodily desires …
would you still love me?
imagine …
I was a monster -
deformed by happenstance or accident
still a man in the technical sense
but with face and sinews that
repulsed even me
and frightened children away
though the heart and spirit you adored
still thrummed earnestly inside -
still beat with love and desire and
careful intensity ...
would you still love me?
what …
if the day came -
(a stark reality as viable as any)
when I lost all of earthly value and worth -
all possessions and comforts
all conveniences and financial securities - gone
the talents and experience and innate
ability to support even myself
blown to the four winds by
careless fate or folly ...
would you still love me?
consider …
I’m human, but
turned completely inside-out -
the abyssal and dark, troubled corners
of my innermost being
worn on hapless bones like sodden skin
the fearful ids and psyches thus
laid bare by illness, time or substance -
free to dance like a demon for
the porcelain moon ...
would you still love me?
and pray …
what if I were YOU ...
and you were the reflection of all that
your dreams dared to weave
the horror and ecstasy that awakens
you sweaty in the night -
that shivers and turns to ice on your
fair, faultless, barren skin
terror choking the screams from
the tight of your chest
could you ...
would you, still …
love me??
~ POETRY AGAINST POVERTY ~
( photographic art created copyright-free by the author with Gemini AI / Meta AI software )
Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden | Year Posted 2026
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