Love Story Series

 Arlene and Alan Levine 

 

 

 

 Alan and Arlene Levine on their wedding day

Our Marriage in Verse

By Arlene Levine

Living in Manhattan after completing my MA at NYU, I moved to an apartment on the Upper East side with my best friend as a roommate. One night, I was exhausted yet she insisted I get dressed and go to a party everyone was talking about in a huge loft downtown in Tribeca. I refused; she would not take no for an answer. So off we went and the place was packed. At some point I was talking to a fascinating actor when my roomie appears and drags me away. I was furious, but she pulls me toward a tall dark-haired fellow, all the while whispering about how she failed to perk his interest but knew he would be just my type. Long story short, I stood in front of him, our eyes met and that was that.

Caught By Your Love

Maybe it’s the patience you bring to all things
whether sautéing a filet or solving a problem
Perhaps it’s the way you listen when I can’t hear myself
so you can guide me to shore
Possibly it’s your beautiful eyes, reflecting pools
where I can see myself as cherished,
especially when I have forgotten to like who I am
It could be how the touch of your hand comforts me
back to sleep when I wake at three in the morning
fearful about some foolish thing that won’t
be a pebble ten years down the riverbed from now
Conceivably it’s the surging stream of your devotion
surrounding me in my most solitary moments
or the way you’ve taught me by your generosity
how I could afford to nurture myself
and you without skimping
It might be all these reasons and ones
I don’t yet understand even after all these years
that have hooked my heart and made me
so grateful to be caught
by your love

by Arlene Gay Levine

First published in Wedding Blessings (Random House/Broadway Books)



Cassoulet

My love, I bring the heart, soul and spirit.
You deliver the muscle, math and mirth.
We stir, taste and then…
a soupçon of mystic from me,
paired with your heavy handful of DIY repair.
Toss with an appropriate touch,
though not really too much, of
fightin’ and fuss and such,
counterbalanced by the essential
herbs of caring and gentle touch, well…
hell of a dish, wondrous and spicy as
the delectable essence of us.

 

Arlene and Alan Levine now

Marriage

Marriage is a spiritual contract,
a dovetail joint of two souls
beyond religious beliefs or
cultural design. It sets hearts
into a framework where
what you put in is what you receive.

It’s a cosmic abode where the balance
of sun and moon dwells: strong
through the winds of change,
bright as Venus
on a clear night when joy
makes its home in your joining.

Marriage is you and me
as we celebrate the fire,
day in and day out,
our very breath
the bellows of
Love.

First published in Forever in Love: A Celebration of Love and Romance
(Andrews McMeel Publishing)


Unconditional

The day proceeds in silent motion,
light waves lapping against
the evening
distant shore where I,
a swimmer of solitude,
wait to climb into your arms
once more.

And it is not your smile
that warms me
nor your kiss
but the simple sight of your face,
the one who loves me in triumph and disgrace,
just this...

First published in  Forever in Love: A Celebration of Love and Romance
(Andrews McMeel Publishing)


When We Are Old

When we are old
and you have carved
all the masks inside you,
when I have built
a temple of words
from light,
when we have seen
each leaf turn malachite
at sunrise,
sung every curve of each other’s body,
smelled the breath of a million
crimson twilights,
sipped the liquor of our smiles
over miles of seasons,
laughed the last star to sleep
with the joke of knowing ourselves,
alone and together, then,
when we are old
 may the foamy tongue of a hungry sea
lap us up on some new shore
ripe for lovers.

from ART/LIFE, Volume 12, Number 11