Valentine Love Poetry: I Held You in the Square

I Held You in the Square by Ben Okri

I held you in the square

And felt the evening

Re-order itself around

Your smile

The dreams I could never touch

Felt like your body.

Your gentleness made the

Night soft.

And even if we didn’t know

Where we were going,

Nor what street to take

Or what bench to sit on

What chambers awaited

That would deliver us our

Naked joy,

I could feel in your spirit

The restlessness for a journey

Whose beauty lies

In the arriving moment

Of each desire.

Holding you in the evening square,

I sealed a dream

With your smile as the secret pact

March 1986

Photo by Alice Hu Photography via Rock'n'Roll Bride, here