Of Love and its Fears, Poem by Rodolfo Bohoslavsky

For Susana with love (and fear)

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

September 1976

From what I know,

Little or much,

Of love

I offer you

-you asked me to-

Three keys to think about

Three challenges,

Three enigmas to face:

First, calling:

Do I wish or not? (DO I WANT OR NOT)

What do I wish to want? (WHAT DO I WANT TO WISH)

Do I wish to want? (DO I WANT TO WISH)

Or,

What do I want? (WHAT DO I WISH)

My choice, first.

Then, the difference

Conscious or unconscious

Awareness

Of what makes me Alike and different

In spite of sweet harmonies

Tolerate the cut

Patiently.

Third, loneliness,

That void

Which I hope to fill,

Desperately.

To openly face The cruelty

Of being without being.

Without being, to become.

Identity.