unpublished love
comes to me like a cloudy vision
that sounds like distant church bells*
that wake me from sleep

unpublished love
is why i toss and turn
because it whispers my name
and then vanishes

unpublished love
lights the night sky
with the brightest stars
to remind us

unpublished love
waits for me at each turn
to present an opportunity
to find the joy in every breath

unpublished love
is what took me to foreign shores
looking and longing for ancient connections
to people i’ve never known

unpublished love
makes my soul restless
to find answers
to questions that i’ve never asked

unpublished love
is my gift to myself
to others
to you

*this, i hope, is the beginning of my summer project to write poems about my time in rome and what i learned and what draws me back and what haunts me