"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."
-St. Augustine

Human Nature

“Human Nature” by Roxanne A. Stokes © 2008

I’m in love with love.
Because I’ve never been in love,
I’m in love with the conception of love.
I am from love
Buried under my past, frustrations
Disappointments and oppression
Lies that conception
That in me resides the capability
We all have to love.
I love you not because of your who
But because love is the essence of you
Even if it’s buried under hurt, hate
Abuse, aggression and confusion.
I don’t have to like everything you believe and do to love you
I can love you though you may not love or like me
Because love is the combination of choice and obligation for me.
When I choose not to love, I slowly kill the spirit that’s inside of me
Digging the hole of resentment, discontentment and unforgiveness
So I can bury my love under negativity
And unproductivity.
Therefore, I have to love
Not just for me but so you too can recognize the essence we all possess
So that your love can grow strong
Pushing past your past and all the struggles you’ve gone through
So you too can love
Even though you’ve never felt love
Or acknowledged that there’s light inside of you
And that you too are from love.
You too can be a link added to the chain
And teach someone else how to love.
I’ve never been in love
But I’m from love
Which gives me the privilege and right
To be in love with love
And begin a different trend.