You say 'I adore' or 'I can't live without you',

You say 'I don't know, but there's something about you'.

'If I can't have you, my life is not worth living'.

'Your wild misdemeanours are ripe for forgiving'.

All this ardour and tiptoeing around

Is designed to avoid the fateful sound

Of that disturbing, necessary word,

Which still, all to often, goes by unheard.