A Secret To Keep

Title art by Robin Isely. Click image to visit his studio.

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Madonna “Justify My Love”

My heart, it doth bleed
This is my little secret to keep
For you will not see me weakened
Not when down on your knees
Regardless of whether my outlook is bleak, the impression left no less than depressing
Never less than my strength shall you see
Until such time as you can see the woods beyond the trees
Matters never pressing, no stressing remorse for my heart’s wayward course as the dressing of yours is all that truly matters to me

Still very much believe in its majesty
Such has never been forgotten
My hopes and my dreams the very stuffing of me, even when this teddy bear is loose at the seams
You will not see me undone
My race may already have been run
But I would face the starter’s gun again without a second tamed
Would break the tape in record time and do this in thy name
Clock up a personal best in the process, dip for the line with your hand cupped in mine
For glory is thine to recline in, my story means nothing less you be headlining

In moments defining, ’tis thee on the podium
Firing the cannons, content am I loading them
Hell bent on never once missing an angel
For there is one in my peripheral
Magnificent
Omnipotent
This angel at my table, a wishing well to kiss and tell
I know my fate and know it well
Await such with infinite swell
Within my dreams exists a girl, you see
For She, the bell it tolls within
Indeed, it rings symphony solely For She

My heart, it doth bleed
In two halves hath been cleaved
This is my little secret to keep
Not afraid parading vulnerability
Will lay bare and naked in the shade of one of such great divinity
Howbeit, armor shields my lovely bones this day
As I condone the coup de grâce
Black arrows blotting out the sun
Yet, not a single one shall graze my love
I am 300 shields raised above her
My one true significant other

I love her the way She deserves to be adored
Not behind bolted doors, within light forevermore
Wear this heart on my cuirass, regardless of fracture
To guard her from thieves seeking only to capture
Condoning not rodents, disposing of vermin
Have learned well the role of rat catcher
Can sniff out and snuff out a pest of such questionable stature
Yet, this is not the moment to shed tainted blood at altar
No subjecting wolves to slaughter
For I will not see this one falter in the course of full recovery
All of this will not become for nothing

And, whence the time arrives
Bell chimes the rising of the ancient
I have no secret left to keep
Can break down, take this leap and gently weep within her arms
Place a single white lily in her left-hand palm
Tap the vein and let it bleed
My faith be blind, and for all space and time
For in thine timeless eyes
A true lions pride shalt be seen

Richard Charles Stevens

Keeper of The Crimson Quill