To Patti

I am so sure I love
you are loved by
a force radiated
from that place
inside me us
that is not mine ours
only we interfere
when we try
involvement
as if the magnifier
makes the sun
burn inside itself
more
than the loop
through which
I incinerate
a summer long ago
the little ones
the insects
bored
in a dirt patch
behind the mess hall
the tools of cruelty
are in my possession
but what loves you
in me is beyond
my ability to possess
beyond me
beyond me
I swear it.