UNTIL YOU CAME

Until you came

O passionate

O turbulent

O generous

O complete

Until you came

There was burning

And there was ice

And a desert between.

My heart, O joyous,

Until you came

Was at the business

Of defeating itself

Of tearing itself apart

Of flinging itself

Down empty hallways

Holding no doors

Open or shut

Until you came.

Now there are doors

And windows of morning

And the hallways throng with love.

There is still burning and ice

But no desert between

And the burning is ecstasy

And the ice contentment

Because you came.

            — Ted Black, 1/19/2014