LOVE FEVER

LOVE FEVER                                                                                                                                         My heart, when first in fright, began to cling,
I grasped too fast, in silent prayer did beg;
I stared, expecting proof of everything,
That I was worthy of the life-boat's leg.
But constant proof was never mine to claim;
I felt a need no love could satisfy,
And jealous shadows fed the inner flame,
Of anything that passed unowned by eye.
I called this fever love, yet love is free,
It does not panic, nor demand a chain;
I smothered the bright thing that fled from me,
Like water slipping through a hand in pain.
    Still must I kill the good by trying to keep,
    And sit alone, to wonder why I weep.
-WILLIAMSJI MAVELI