A sensitive reading of her spoken word poem about finding love, ‘My Oasis, My Love’ by author Amber Fernie.

MY OASIS, MY LOVE

Spoken Word Poem About Finding Love

When you fly across a desert

Injured, crashing, stumbling over hot sand until

Ahead, the air shimmers above a patch of green, you think

I’ve seen mirages before; it’s hard to feel hopeful.

But little choice prompts you toward them.

You steel yourself for disappointment

Only to reach an oasis after all

And suddenly, all the space is filled with richness and shade, and sweet, cool water.

Where did this come from?

There is nothing within me

Which planted it.

And truth be known, it strikes me with terror

Where I was never afraid before.

Where instead was resignation and maybe even

Some vague impression of justice.

I made this desert.

I don’t know the cost of leaving it.

But he looks at me with such compassion in these moments

Calls me his wounded bird

Tells me he has a place here just for me.

I’m overwhelmed by gratitude,

But the grip of fear tightens,

Because I realize that I do know the cost.

It comes later, when I am gray

And I just can’t be warmed in his absence.

It comes when I can no longer feel his exact temperature, or his breathing, or his sweat.

When his hands can’t hold my hands, or my cheeks, or any part of me.

It is dear, and it is inescapable.

And I have chosen to pry the fingers of fear from my heart

To preen my bent wing

Healing, for the time being

Safe in the nest of his making, I accept

That every moment of sorrow to come is a price I would pay tenfold

For this.

END

My Oasis, My Love – A Spoken Word Poem About Finding Love, first appeared for the Karma Animal Poetry Contest

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