Only Love I Know

[Justice Thomas]

Before my hands ever touched fair skin
Before my lips kisses upon soft lips,
Before these tattooed fingers ran through hair of silk
Before they tightly held hour glass hips.
Before I love you Jay was ever said against the wind
Before those same words tore me in two,
Before my heart lay beneath six layers of soil
Before it lay in pieces, but my mind slowly grew.
Before desperate attempts to confess what was inside
Before the many that tried to find the key,
Before Alice entered my wonderland
Before her hugs and empty promises lay in captivity.
Before there was Justice Thomas the poet
Before Jay Thomas the man,
Before the innocence of check this box yes or no
Before I realized that l-o-v-e was something I'd never understand.
Before the curves and soft skin of a woman across my path
Before the warm butterflies became cold wingless devils,
Before I realized that I'd be alone for what seems like eternity
Before I knew they'd never be on my level.
Before time began and I failed to breathe
Before the broken hearts laid to waste in my path,
Before the malice of a cold hearted ice king
Before the tears of women made me laugh.
Before cheating, before adultery
Before swingers, three ways, and toys,
Before STDs, before polygamy
Before girl on girl, and boys on boys.
Before that one that melted me at the very sight
Before the one that got away,
Before the crippling loneliness and frustrated hollow dates
Before the crying into the pillow every night and day.
Before I knew of hearts and flowers
Before Valentine's Day,
Before a naked winged child committed acts of passionate murder
Before I knew that my heart had no direction or say.
Before my tears there was only this
Words and rhyme, sonnets and all the love through years they've shown,
The only security inside my soul
The only love I have ever known.