Strong and mind-blowing verses, @johnjgeddes!! You remind me of a Venezuelan poet, José Antonio Ramos Sucre, who suffered all his life from insomnia and the presence of a woman he called his beloved and in the end was death. The poet is persecuted by his feelings, by his fears, as being sensitive is very exposed to the world! In this poem I see how the lyrical voice accepts its truth, its enchantment, but asks if the other is too. He finds this presence different from the other presences that visit him, he knows himself captive, devoted, lost. Greetings!
I don't know Sucre but will check him out - Thank you, Nancy. It's the spiritual triptych - obsession - oppression - possession. It happens on the physical, emotional and spiritual levels. We abdicate our authority to another, or to a presence and before long we're enslaved. Passion can't be created, but it can destroy if left unchecked.