white tea and wild jasmine
of course you have to add the rose petals
lukewarm, untasted
night-fulls,
water leans against the spoon
like a body in the night, skin-prayer
you want me
moonlight shows me
your unshaved face that i love so much
the circling rivers tell a story
– ours
incomparable to stirring tea
it’s better than fire
the heat
in the undergrounds
show me, my love
the hidden place we never had a need to hide
A little more:
In my native language Bulgarian, the word for tea is чай, pronounced chai. So when I say chai, I don’t mean the Indian chai, I mean tea as is – no sugars, no honey, no milk – just love, flowers and water.
Perhaps more than anything though, when I say chai, I mean love.
I mean warmth, I mean connection.
Because of all the memories, all the heart and hearth.
Because of all the intangible things that stir us deeply on the inside of. The giant things, with great meanings.
Chai is like the waters of life flowing through us, only to kiss us into the hands and lips that will then shape love into being.
Chai is like a beautiful dream, a beautiful song, a beautiful lyric. A most beautiful dance. It’s the secrets only our heart knows. It’s the heat of our undergrounds. It’s the soul of the one who calls us towards himself. It’s love.
—
Sometimes I don’t understand what exactly the phrases in my poems are saying. And I feel that maybe this is a great lesson for my own life – where I try to let go of knowing it all, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. The heart – our unique emotional wild land where only feelings enter the soul of the matter. So I just let the poem be as is. Sometimes after awhile I go back and know exactly what I’ve meant, but sometimes I don’t. When I write it I only know how it feels, and if it feels right then it’s exactly how it should be in that moment.
Like love.
One of my favourite phrases in poetry is by e.e. cummings, from his poem “since feeling is first”:
“my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom”
No need to overthink, overanalyze, just be open in emotion – for in love, as in poetry, there is space for only feeling.
The above includes excerpts from my book, all rights reserved and subject to copyright.
You can read more of my poems and musings in my {poem + story} series.
You can also visit my poems page to read poems from my first two books, check out my two love poetry books, Moonhold (2019) and The God-like Things (2021), and listen to my spoken word while musing over some of my videos and photography.
I love what I do, I love to create and to contribute, and if you want to support me and my work of love (and my upcoming new book of poetry!), you can do so by sharing my articles and poems, buy my books, or donate some magic coins in my hat on Paypal. If you would like to work with me, hire me or collaborate, feel free to check out my Offerings or contact me directly.
Your support means so much to me! Thank you wholeheartedly!
Cover art: Roses by Claude Monet, 1925-1926.