Real love hurts

Real love hurts

When you are caught

In the heat of its flame

You get more than

Fingers burned.

Love is truth

Even the largest whales cry

And follow each other

Onto the beach to die.

Mute swans dance a ballet with

Their partners

Entwining necks

Creating one heart

From a lovers caress.

Real love can

Be disabling

Once it has gone

Even the ecstasy

Is a crippling remembrance.

But its memory is

A poor substitute.

Absence is an experience

Of waves

An insistent tsunami

Engulfing the wounded soul

Drowning the broken heart.

Love at first sight is a gift

Embrace it

But in acceptance

Adopt responsibility

As a process

Of changing perception.

Love never stands still

It is a swirl of shadows,

An ephemeral flower

Fragile and so easily lost,

A rose petal

Tossed on the wind

With the strength

And girth

Of a mighty oak,

Ready to stand proudly

As a memorial tree

For all eternity.

Love is a choice

Not an ordeal,

Only in parting

Will fault lines show

They grow

As grieving weeds

And are woven into

A shroud

To disguise the

Inevitability of change,

Perception of difference.

When love is real

A divine seal,

Two will never become one,

It is only a life

Not a love that has gone.