No Strings

Love that feeds
too greedily on
cares’ receipts
is never free
or absolute

so it is
with me;

sustained I am
by memories, icons
of the gilded years
exemplifying
olden days

I give
without demand

this love
lives on peremptory
of whirling angst
or wrenching hair;
it stays that way

invest
in your return
© 12 December 2008, I. D. Carswell