They speak the word, and instantly, the mind contracts,
A reflex action governed by the flesh:
The narrow whisper found in shadowed acts,
The sudden heat where boundaries thresh.
We have confined its fire to the bed,
Reduced the vast geography of longing
To the quickening pulse, the thoughts unsaid,
The simple, primal sense of just belonging
To that brief, immediate, carnal claim.
We know the scandal, the forbidden blush,
And strip the meaning, simplifying shame,
As if all deep desire were merely hush.
But did you know the root, the wider gate?
How simple-minded is the modern gaze,
To seal the Word within one desperate state,
Ignoring avenues of brighter ways.
For Lust is simply Want, unbound, immense,
The driving force that molds the shape of man.
It is the golden, gleaming recompense,
The hunger for the comprehensive plan:
The Lust to make the money, hard and bright,
To build the fortress or to seize the crown,
A fierce ambition for the morning light,
The need to harvest every seed sown down.
It is the fervent, tireless, Lust for Life,
The clawing need for breath within the breast,
The warrior’s engine in the endless strife;
The will to thrive, to put the soul to test.
The Lust that aches just to be happy whole,
To feel the sun and find the perfect rhythm,
The deepest craving settled in the soul,
To rise above the common human schism.
Lust is the engine, not the reckless crash.
It is the velocity, the speed of knowing,
The fierce devotion, burning in a flash,
To keep the spirit utterly still glowing.
To know the word and stop upon the sin
Is to ignore the full tectonic shift—
The boundless, vital, energy within,
The universal, monumental Gift
Of wanting what is missing, what is due.
How impoverished the lexicon remains
When we reject the whole, complex truth
And bind a boundless torrent with cheap chains,
Not knowing Lust is the whole breath of youth,
The need for everything that holds high worth:
The terrible, magnificent desire,
To claim your corner of the living Earth,
And boldly stand inside the sacred fire.