Self-Portrait with Orbit
An arced path around a central point, bound to but held apart,
as in night’s returning grace, or standing waves.
In periapsis, you reach out as I slowly withdraw.
Gravity does not prevent departure but prolongs it.
The acceleration of a body is equal to the sum of the gravitational forces, divided by its mass. I rise from the chair but can’t escape.
Not circular but elliptical.
Where falling away and curving from never meet.
Realizing that I am neither focus nor center, I discover place
in symmetry, in flow and subtraction.
A cloud obscures the sun and you close your eyes.
I wither at the thought of scaling or relative size, or your departure.
In the simplest Klemperer rosette, four bodies cycle their dances,
heavy, light, heavy, light, in a rhombic configuration.
My arteries fill in opposition to desire.
Wanting you, I absolve weight and listen, accept my place.
“Self-Portrait with Orbit” appeared on the blog in November 2015, and is included in The Circumference of Other, my offering in the Silver Birch Press publication, IDES: A Collection of Poetry Chapbooks, available on Amazon.
O at the Edges 
We could do worse than finding that someone to orbit. And, sometimes, when we are fortunate to be both bodies, we could not do better.
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And, of course, it was your words that brought this to mind, Bob. Well done.
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Thanks, Ken. There’s nothing quite like finding yourself in orbit!
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So true, Ken!
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Love your last line…”Wanting you, I absolve weight and listen, accept my place.” This is often what it takes to stay in orbit with our partner! Letting go so we can actually listen to the other.. Great metaphors Bob,
Dwight
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Thanks, Dwight. Sometimes it’s better to let go and allow gravity to do its thing.
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Yes!
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Really great, Bob! Maybe love is the yet undiscovered black matter, the glue that holds the universe together.
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Or maybe we’ll all be sucked into it, to emerge at some other end, complete, lacking nothing and able to get along…
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That would be wonderful
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We can hope!
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