John O'Donohue: For Eros

 For Eros

When you love,
May you feel the joy
Of your heart coming alive
As your lover’s gaze
Lands on your eyes,
Holding them,
Like the weight of a kiss,
Deepening.

May the words of love
Reach you and fluster
Your held self,
The way a silhouette of breeze
Excites a meadow.

When you are touched,
May it be the gentleness
You desire,
Your lover’s hands sending
Each caress deep into your skin
Like a discovering glance.

May slow sequences
Of kisses discover
Your secret echoes.

May your desire flow free
And never be fettered
By the thorn-chains
Of old guilt
Or crippled touch.

May you feel
How your soul loves
When your skin glows,
And your eyes darken
When promise ripens.

In the gaze of your lover,
May you see clearer
In the mirror
Of your own being.
May the silences
Be spaces where you
Can gather swiftly,
At ease with all
The subtle complexity.

May you be able to listen
To your lover’s heartbeat
And think only of joy
You can awaken.

May you be able
To let yourself fall
Into the ocean rhythm,
Unfolding ever more.

Until you become
One crest of wave,
Rising into wild foam

Whose beauty will show
In the graceful sweep
Of its home-breaking.

- John O'Donohue,  
To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings