Love hurts,
love, scars
It burns like ice
it pierces, mars
impairs me, yet
I pick at scabs and try,
cause
I still recall
your warmth,
the way you smiled
when we were young.
Love hurts
love scars
It’s dope and poison
swirled to stars;
it abused me, yet
I stay, barely buoyant
cause
in these empty rooms
still ghosts of you
remain.
Memory by Rene Magritte
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO8C9fqC3uk
—
June 4, 2016
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Amen, brudder. Why is it that something that’s become “dope and poison / swirled to stars” has us desperate for more? Beats all of us, I guess.
I think it’s a sugar-rush
“I pick at scabs and try” some terrific lines in this – great
Right on! The things we are wiling to endure for that bit of warmth. I think we would do it, even if we knew what comes next. Heck, we do it all the time.
This makes me
want to become
a wiggling ghost,
just to make you
smile.
That bust
has everything
to do
with the book
I’m reading.
The bust was a wonderful find for what I wanted in my poem.
More goodness. Always on point, on topic, you boiled it down to the bareness, and lyrical as ever.
I always love that song–and you have your own take, describing it well. k.
Indeed the scars do remain over the years. There is a sadness in this poem, but also the memories of the warmth that once was in those rooms now empty except for the ghosts…. A poignant write, Bjorn.
yet I stay, barely buoyant
cause in these empty rooms
still ghosts of you remain.
Memories may be painful but still not painful enough to obliterate the feelings and yearnings
Hank
Nice! the pairing of poem and video
Much love…
What a classic song – two words to embrace a trove of heartbreak. Your poem makes the connection between lyric and personal experience quite seamlessly.
warmth still shines in spite of the scars…that is undying love…poignant and beautiful…
Your link at Poets United is not working. You might check it and put the correct link there.
It burns like ice… poison swirled to stars… and yet, no one would pass up the experience!
Love is certainly dope and poison – and yet perhaps it is what keeps us afloat – the quest for it at least…and the hope the one day those rooms maybe filled again and the ghosts settled
I have ghosts of girlfriends past that haunt me too. Not that I want to forget them lest they forget me too.
If love were only the dope and poison–the addictive elements–we’d strive to break its hold and not secretly/obsessively long to stay. It hurts, O yes, what a song, what a poem! The spirit of experience may be a ghost, but it is of heaven and not of Hell. It tenderizes us, lets us touch mystery, a beautiful pain too many of us fear.
No kidding–you describe it perfectly, and it’s not a feeling that can be turned on and off, but a river that flows within, independent of wish or effort. Perfect song pick.
Poignantly imagined … I hope.
Picking at scars, knowing that won’t offer any healing, but that real pain is so linked with ghost pleasures that it hardly matters to the speaker that he’s bleeding. Really nice stuff.
This is so powerful 🙂 indeed the ghosts of our past haunt us with memories of love and loss.
Cupid’s arrow can be dangerous but also pierce through our everyday existence. Nice rhythm and expression here. I started to hear J Giles sing in my head.
she knew a lot about love hurt and evidently so do you – ‘barely bouyant’ – glad you did not drown so we can enjoy all your poetry
Love does hurt sometimes…and yet it draws us in as if we can’t help ourselves even knowing the outcome…absolutely beautiful and soulful!
All that you say is true, but still….love warms, love heals, love opens new worlds…”love is not all, but many a man is making friends with death for lack of it”….Edna St. Vincent Millay.
I think we love the pain more than the freedom, proud of the scars that remind us of where we’ve been.
“….cause in these empty rooms, still ghosts of you remain.” So poignant. Beautifully done, Bjorn.
Your words and the song are touching. Love just as sweet it can be just as bitter.
An exquisitely rendered – achingly tender – piece. Those ghosts in the room: dope and poison – a haunting description.
Memory is such a powerful, painful thing, Bjorn. I especially like that line about how you smiled when young. Such a beautiful image. Poignant.
Especially toxic love, and most likely a good number of us have experienced that at some time in our lives. We bleed.
super! Oh why do we always pick at scabs
It always surprises me when beautiful memories are so painful. Your poem is powerful, Bjorn.
Memory allows us to go back and feel again, that which made us aware of being alive. Beautifully written,
Elizabeth
You’ve got the rhythm of the song in your verse, and the pain with just a dash of hope.
I like this. Love does hurt. It’s a risk. But, without it we wither. Better to have loved…. Right? Lovely writing Bjorn.
Dope and poison swirled to stars. That is a brilliant line.
Beautiful and touching poem, Bjorn, your poem itself sounded like a song. I loved this part :”Love hurts
love scars
It’s dope and poison
swirled to stars;”
I really loved this one Bjorn! Love is a battle really and when it doesn’t work out everyone has wounds. I too, have picked at scabs only to face an empty room.
beautiful!! loved the last part
“cause
in these empty rooms
still ghosts of you
remain.”