Fierce Love

Fierce love is a line of ants
marching through the jungle 
their footsteps thundering,
shaking the air and the leaves of trees,
on their way to the termite nest
capturing the termite eggs
bringing the eggs home to crack their shells 
and devour them after the war.

Fierce love is mortal combat,
hand to hand combat,
hearts beating as if to break,
a knife fight in which each combatant survives their wounds
bloody, scarred,
relieved,
even happy.

Fierce love is kneading bread,
pounding your fists
nto the powdery flour,
mutilating it until it can be shaped
into a form worth baking
and consuming.

Fierce love is protecting a child,
any child
imagining what might have happen
before the sharp flash of nails, the deep dive,
claws, bared incisors,
spittle and malice,
no sacrifice too great.

Fierce love is a sweet puppy
grown into a wild wolf
roaming the forests
seeking prey and sustenanc
 no sacrifice too small
no victim too large
where hunger is great
where hunger is all.

Fierce love is not complacent
not accepting
not friendly
not playful
just fierce
just for itself yet requiring another
where breathing is labored
and mountain paths hard
and solid
beneath your bare feet.

Fierce love knows not play
only revenge
the unrelenting labor of childbirth
blood, the caesarian geyser,
promises of freedom from the fear of imprisonment
and delight in the jail’s metal bars
and the cell’s unrelenting locks.

Fierce love is Isaac
prepared to sacrifice Jacob
and Jacob willing to be sacrificed
Odysseus slaughtering Penelope’s suitors
and Telemachus obeying his father’s commandment
while still repulsed by blood.

Fierce love is tenderness,
soft caresses
accompanying moans
flowers in vases
beauty that must die
prayers that know not skepticism,
deep rest after deep falls and deep failures,
bees kissing flowers
select sperm piercing the egg casing
monogamous osprey returning to last year’s nests
mammals’ milk
the heartbeat of tiny insects
rhythmic song
chanting
accepting nonexistence
crying in frustration
in gratitude for the multitude of gifts
of love that only exists
because we permit it
because we admit it.

I bring you these loves
these sensual songs we sing
as fierce heat from violent explosions on the nearest star
warms this otherwise dead and silent rock we live upon.