Poem: The Lover and the Serpent

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You are either my lover or you are not.

I do not know how to stand halfway in love.
I do not know how to pretend my soul is casual when my heart has already chosen depth.

My core is love.
My hunger is love.
My wound is love still searching for a home.

Perhaps friendship is safer.
Friendship does not demand union.
Friendship does not ache at the door of the soul asking to be let in.

But do not come too close to me out of curiosity.
Do not touch my spirit out of pity.

I am both the serpent and the lover.
I can heal, and I can bite.
I can adore, and I can vanish into silence.

I can see you even when you refuse to see me.
But to truly see me, you must first love me.

Because I am not revealed to the curious.
I am only revealed to the devoted.