When I figured out you loved me
using the forensic methods of Sherlock Holmes
I turned to Saint Augustine’s Confessions
to tackle the more difficult problem:
I had to figure out if I loved you.
Solving love requires two methods.
The first is relatively easy. I observed small things.
Small bits of data told me I was the one
you desperately wanted to love.
I could tell you feared I wouldn’t approve
without any reason. This indicates love.
But the other kind of love—do I love?
almost drove me mad.
Loving hearts contain no data.
I carefully observed the degree to which I was sad
as I attempted to solve whether I loved Pamela.
Pamela loves me—
facts told me, not poetry.
But my love receives no information. I smiled in my dilemma.
I had time. I could think for a while.
I heard her. I heard the sounds.
Alone, there were no sounds.
All I had was my smile.