Why It Is Dangerous To Love A Poet

You must give him your life.
He won't settle for less.
He will turn it into poetry
and become you
for a little while.
He will wear your skin
next to his own
and feel your darkest pains,
your most exquisite pleasures.
He will finally understand
your definition of love
and why you will leave him.
He will steal the secret
of your deepest longing
and know how to satisfy you.
Perhaps he will make
a few subtle alterations.
Then he will return it
as something different
from who you were
and hope that it
still makes a good fit,
but it never really will
again.
  - mce