Love devoured my state and my city, consuming all in its path. It drained the swamps of stagnant water, abolishing the tides. It feasted on the curly mangroves and stiff leaves, consuming the vibrant green of sugarcane plants that adorned the rolling hills. It sliced through the red barriers, the little black train, and the chimneys. Love devoured the scent of cut cane and the tang of salt air. It devoured those things that I longed to know, but never captured in verse.

Love devoured every day not advertised in leaflets. It devoured the minutes ticking away on my watch, the years that the lines of my hand promised. It devoured the future of a great athlete, the future of a great poet. It devoured the future trips around the earth, the future shelves around the room.

Love devoured my peace and my war. It devoured my day and my night, my winter, and my summer. It devoured my silence, my headaches, my fear of death. It consumed all, leaving me bare and vulnerable, yet somehow, in its wake, it left a new kind of beauty.

Copyright © Beatriz Esmer