Quantum Stuff

If we measure love’s symptom
as passion, passion
is how it behaves.
If we measure its constancy,
constancy is the name
of the answer. The more exactly
we measure one thing
the harder it is
to measure the other.

Not even love’s weight
can be counted.
Its system will change
in every process
and although the aftershock
of a kiss can expand
to many times
its original force
sometimes it doesn’t.

The speed, the size,
the pleasure of it
cannot be separated out.
Nor any other aspect.

Love is the soul’s
only perfection and has
every attribute.

“Quantum Stuff” appeared in The Madness of Chefs: New and Selected Poems by Elaine Magarrell (Word Works, 2017).