This poem, by
Spike Milligan, was one which I came across by chance, at the age of fourteen. I'd always liked poetry, but this was the first
poem I ever read that burned itself so deep into my
brain the
instant I read it that I knew I would never forget it. It just felt like
utter truth, beautifully expressed to me then, and it remains my favourite love poem. It goes like this:
If I could write words
Like leaves on an autumn forest floor
What a bonfire my letters would make.
If I could speak words of water
You would drown when I said
"I love you".