Love’s Pawnshop by Odin Roark Unable to pay the debt Love is often pawned Sympathy as a claim check Stuffed deep in pockets of suffering Such self-deprecation roams the streets Perplexed with using the tender As peace offering to the beloved A gesture risking resentment Nothing conducive to healing Perhaps better spent on survival-type passion Allusion’s princely blind beggar with pencils Rewards for the coin-drop sound in the cup Solicitude’s offering without expectation Without questionable agenda Such is the giving spirit Often in trouble Never without company Welcoming emotion’s exchange Leaving behind longing’s conundrum To examine itself truly naked Sincerity’s immunity Impervious to manipulation Or desire’s self-deceit Once the reward Now but a cast-aside A melting of chicanery’s Falsity of spirit Later Amidst midnight shadows A lowly pawn ticket of imagination Embraces the enigmatic unsharpened pencil They rest side by side Atop life’s universal shelter Where loveless anxiety takes cover Awaiting another day Perhaps THE day When needs will find Love’s pawnshop ready To teach them as well Precious lessons Somewhere Out there