The Writer's Voice
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All or Nothing
by
Jim Ciccolini
Please don't even hold me
if you plan to let me go,
for the winds are blowing coldly
and it's just begun to snow.
I know I can't survive
another icy, hopeless blight
so I'd rather not be alive
if only for but half the night.
I want to live within you --
deep inside your very soul --
for, from out here, I can't begin to
show my simple, tender role.
I want to live forever --
in your heart -- not as a saint,
not as pious, wise, or clever,
just one who loved without restraint.
To you, things cannot last;
some day we all must be alone,
but not a moment has gone past
that I've doubted what I've been shown.
Love is what we make it,
and it hasn't failed me yet,
though sometimes I did not take it,
and that I surely still regret.
It's always been here,
offering, without reserve,
to any ones who, without fear,
would dwell within its calm preserve.
It's safe in there, indeed,
but there's a catch, I do admit,
for, as soon as you recede,
you forfeit all its benefits.
It holds such endless space
and is so soothing to the mind
that when we stray from its embrace
is when we truly are confined.
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