What I'm Putting Out - Poem: There Is a Face

There Is a Face

There is skin, and under
the skin, bone and under
the bone, light. The bad blows I strike
break skin and splinter bone,
but the light remains
steady, a tall flame on a still night.

There is a face I love,
but forget I love
when I forget the light
behind the skin, behind the bone,
and strike my misdirected blows.

The one I love is not
the skin nor the bone
but the light behind, as I am
truly light, under everything,
despite the dark, because the light
which is the love
absorbs the blows
and burns the bad.