Poem: Wild Love, by Wayne Visser

WILD LOVE

For some, love is tame

It is cute and cuddly

Like an adorable pet

Tail-waggingly happy

Purringly content

I have known this tame love

It did not last

Now, I know a different kind of love

A love that is wild

That is nervous and ferocious

Skittish and temperamental

One moment, it trusts enough to approach

The next, it bites the hand that feeds it

Such wild love can never be tamed

To cage it is to kill it

Any attempt at domestication

Denies its true nature

Wild love is sometimes fierce

And sometimes it is shy

Yet always it returns

Again and again

Seeking acceptance

Each time a little less afraid

A little less aggressive

Wild love always hurts

But the wounds it inflicts

The pierce of fangs

And the rake of claws

Are nothing but self-defence

For wildness is never malicious

This love comes from the shadows

It is born in the wilderness

It hunts in jungle and canyon

Prowls across desert and plain

Soars over ocean and peak

It is ever vigilant

And breathlessly alive

Wild love can never be conquered

It cannot be bought or won

Only earned, with patience

Patience that teaches understanding

Understanding that builds trust

Trust that creates safety

So that love’s caring instincts can take over

In love’s wild embrace

Defence gives way to protection

Aggression turns into passion

Fighting becomes playful

Wounds have a chance to heal

Even so, love is never subdued

To love is to risk injury

Flesh wounds are part of living

Bleeding is part of loving

And loving without restraint

Or fear of consequences

Is the way of the wild

Creative Commons 2010