Harm not done
is quite another thing
from love lavished.

"Do not harm your neighbour
as you do not harm yourself?"

But Paul’s love definition, too
has a negative side:
It keeps no record of wrongs.

It’s balanced,
in that it always protects, perseveres, trusts,
etc.

Wherever you go,
there you are.

Miss statue
waving her metal flame
doggedly this first of March
(whose weather Februarian remains)
scorns this rusted, worn, graffiti-bearing bridge,
sealed from its monstrosity by mist
in simultaneous terms of physics; spirit; history.
It is the same
on either side of foggy separation
this brand of liberty, which candidly
facilitates both polished empire and slum:
spray-can empire,
and the slum that is the filth
within the hearts of you and me.
(to be redeemed…)