Perfect Imperfection

J. V. Cunningham

Innocent to innocent,
One asked, What is perfect love?
Not knowing it is not love,
Which is imperfect-some kind
Of love or other, some kind
Of interchange with wanting,
There when all else is wanting,
Something by which we make do.

So, impaired, uninnocent,
If I love you-as I do-
To the very perfection
Of perfect imperfection,
It's that I care more for you
Than for my feeling for you.