Title: Unrequited
Author: Monica
Rating: PG
Summary: Poem penned by Commodus to Lucilla, 188 AD.

My passion is denied
My kisses are deflected
My hugs are not returned in kind
My whispers of passion are hushed

I feel love overwhelming my heart
I want to show you my love
I have passions I need to quench
But you pull away, repulsed?

Our father loved me not
He received me with a cold heart
He looked at me with distant reproachful eyes
I felt his hate burn into me

And you, my sister, stand aloof
You beckon me with warm smiles
But then you quickly step away
I want to be near you and hold you..but how?

What is it in my face, in my words
That makes me so undesirable to you?
My eyes are green, a sacred color
My hair is as black as night
My skin is cool and pale

Nothing undesirable in that!

My heart is bursting in agony
My soul is in love with you
It sails to distant shores
When I look at your face, my sister
Can you feel my passion?

My eyes should be filled with it
Is it so hard to see?
But you turn away from me
The cruelest rejection of all!

I feel sickened in my soul
Can love turn into hate so easily?
Where are the words I need
To have you surrender to my love?

If I were not your brother,
Perhaps you would feel differently
All I know is that you are all I have
In this nightmare I feel lost

Please take me into you arms
And hold me tightly to your breast
Be my mother, my lover and my sister in one
Smother me in your feminine embrace

Make me forget this nausea and sickness
And the torment of unrequited love....