It's Enough to Love

It’s enough to love.  You believe it, though in moments like these, it’s harder to do. You wake up next to her in the morning, embrace her, leave her lying in your bed naked but for what amounts to a few threads. The same place you woke up the day before and the day before that. You kiss her cheek on the way out. Wherever you are, wherever you go, you always reach out to touch her, you reach out to make a connection that says not, “you are mine” but simply “I am yours.” You’re not saying, “I can’t go on without you.” It’s more eloquent, a simple gesture that resigns itself to “my life is better for having you in it.” Because it is, as you’ve told yourself, enough to love. It’s enough to wrap your arms around her as you fall asleep. It’s enough to play all day long with her by your side. Hike mountains with her, climb down to rivers, ride horses, read at coffee shops, watch parades. Love doesn’t mean your lips on hers. It doesn’t mean her clothes cascading to the floor. It doesn’t mean commitment. Love means compassion, empathy, giving, giving, giving. Love is an end to self. Its own reward. It’s enough to love.

You tell yourself this because first, it’s true, and second, to lift the weight from your heart. If it isn’t enough to love, then the heart becomes the world on Atlas’ shoulders. The heart becomes a terrible gravity. We fight hard enough to stand against gravity as it is. Love can’t be a burden, you tell yourself, because if I love, then I’ll never walk alone. Love is no piece of furniture that takes two to carry. At worst, (at best), love is a canvas chair, easily lifted, carried casually from one friendly fire to another.

It’s enough to love. Love is an ocean, not a river. There may be shores but there are no banks. There may be islands but only to rest upon before we cast ourselves to the mercy of the sea again. It is buoyant and limitless. It will carry us, if we let it. It must, because if it cannot carry me, I am lost. I don’t have the strength to carry love. I don’t have the strength to try. I can only be the sail on its sea and let its winds take me wherever they blow. I must have strength, but only the strength to let go of my desire for a goal; I must have the will to keep my sails full and move ever onward. I must deny expectation, deny conditions and contracts, deny yes and no. There can only be existence, not control. I cannot bend love to time nor compass rose, it has no direction, no definition. It is a statement of being, like “I am. You are. We are.” Love is. And because love is, it must be enough.

So I give myself to love. Unconditionally, to love. Without purpose, to love. As a journey, to love. I do not give myself over to love romantic, I do not give myself to love platonic. I give myself to love without adjectives, without scope, breadth, width, depth. Love has none of these, for they are all limits. I give myself to love beyond limits. I give myself to love beyond words. For it is enough to love.

Take Me (I'm Yours)

Take Me (I'm Yours)

I don’t know where life’s going to take me

don’t know if life will take you from me

or take me

from you

I do know

I want to take this life in stride

take it one day at a time

seize every moment

share them with you

I may take it for granted

the sun will rise tomorrow

but I won’t take it for granted

you’ll be there when it does

with those kisses, the smile that lights

any room you’re in

(you have so many of them

I want to be there to see

so many, many more)

An astronomer spends so many nights

staring at the stars

he forgets that once they called to him

like a lover to her bed

But I, I’m still amazed

every step I take moves me closer

to another dance with you

and I, I won’t make promises

because if you just wait you’ll see

always looking for constellations

in the stars in your eyes

is just part of being me

I don’t know where life will take me

but I’d like to see if maybe it’d consider

bringing you along

and I don’t  know where life will take you

but I’d like it to consider

taking me along

(if there’s a ride, let’s ride it

if there’s a path, let’s walk it

if there’s a boat, let’s sail it

if there’s a song, let’s dance it

if there’s a chance, let’s take it

take it, let’s take a chance together

take me

I’m yours)

One Word

One word

a term without terms

no contracts, just unconditional

love, love, love.

One word

all we’re all really searching for

is someone to sing to

with love, love, love.

One word

could be a panacea

if we’d all place our faith

in the right place

in love, love, love.

One word

is all you need

cause even God believes

in love, love, love.

One word

is all you need

cause even God believes

in love, love, love. 

Trespasses (Kiss Me)

Give me that trespass

so sweetly urged

and when you’re through

we’ll take a moment to breathe

and I, I’ll give it back to you

I’m not much for praying

but if we can

let lips do what hands do

I think I could happily

spend my life praying with you

Let’s stay in this moment

there’s no better scene

let’s draw the curtains

play out the whole thing

where you and I will never be seen

If you’re not certain

then you play the saint

and by your lips I’ll purge my sin

if you’re discontent

with my sins on your lips

I confess

I’m ready and eager for you

to give me my sin again

Don’t go when you’re called

stay, Juliet, stay

starstruck not starcrossed

and we’ll never care

whether a nightingale's or lark’s song

fills the bright morning air.

Let’s be in this moment

there’s no better scene

let’s draw the curtains

play out the whole thing

where you and I will never be seen

Give me that trespass

so sweetly urged

and when you’re through

we’ll take a moment to breathe

and I, I’ll give it back to you

Furniture

Furniture

When I come home

tired from my day at work

I want to sink in to your warm embrace

the way I do

when I collapse with relief

into the arms of an easy chair

I want your head

to nestle on my shoulder

and breathe me

the way you do

when you steal my pillow

after I leave in the morning

I want us to pose

like some sculpture 

you picked up 

at the antique shop 

down the street

a pair of lovers 

locked in a kiss

Some days we’ll come in together

dressed like coat racks

to keep us safe from the cold

We’ll sheer each other 

shed our woolen winter skins

and do our playful best

to figure out who makes the better bed

Lyrical!

I self-published an e-chapbook of 14 poems/lyrics called Lyrical. It's free, so if you're interested in a copy send me an email at thequintessentialpoet@gmail.com and I'll send you one.

We All Want Love

We all want love but let’s stop wanting love right now, right this moment. We can’t get love at the drive through window. Love isn’t a fast food. It’s not a greasy, artery clogging hamburger with fries and a large drink. It’s not a menu item and you can’t super size it nor order it any way you want. When we’re hungry for love, we can’t pull it out of the fridge and stick it in the microwave. Instead, let’s want companionship, conversation, a good start. Let’s be on the receiving end of a great smile, a welcome laugh. I think we’ll find that when the time comes, if we ask for a friend, an activity partner, someone interesting to spend an evening with, love will come on its own. Love is like homemade bread. Gather your ingredients. Mix them together. Knead the dough, shape it. Let it rise for a while. Bake it. A good loaf of bread takes patience. So does love.

We all want love but let’s stop expecting it. Let’s stop feeling entitled to it. Love is an art, a skill. Keep a beginner’s mind. Every time you put yourself out there, you’re starting over with a blank slate, a blank page, an untouched piece of wood or stone. Every time you put yourself out there, you’re asking another artist to add their opinion. No matter how brilliant you both are, no matter how much you see eye to eye, you’re going to have to struggle to work together on this masterpiece. Love doesn’t come gift wrapped. Let’s stop asking it to be.

We all want love, but let’s stop hurrying toward it. Love is not a race. It’s not about winning a heart but earning one. If you treat love as a goal, you’ll miss out on the journey and the journey doesn’t have a destination. Love is a long walk around a lake. Sometimes the view is breathtaking. Part of the path may be sunny and part of it may be shaded. The path will climb and fall. Sometimes you walk together in silence and sometimes you learn something new from a passionate conversation or just remember good times you've spent together. You may get frustrated by the litter some careless hiker left upon the ground. The possibilities of this walk are endless. When the walk is over, you’ve simply come back home and you’ll rest and start again.

We all want love but let’s believe in eventualities. Let’s ask for what we can have now and build on those foundations. Someone like me will ask you to dance, to sail, to drink wine and coffee, to listen to him play guitar and sing. On the occasional beautiful day, he may even ask you to take a walk around the lake. Or play frisbee golf. Think about what you want to ask him. And then, perhaps, as you sit in the car, next to each other on a park bench talking beneath the trees or across the table at breakfast you’ll discover that somehow, you’ve fallen “accidentally in love.”