Love has become a throwaway A line to a placate, plead or please Love has devolved to insignificant A filler, a marker, a tease A wasted breath to sate the gap A bland bow to shoot the breeze Love means… Well, it don’t mean soft and fluffy And sure as taxes don’t mean sweet Love is not containable, explainable Sociably acceptable, or pristine Love is not nice, and from what I’ve seen Love is not simple, and love is not clean Love is… Love is hard. Relentless. Unyielding Love hurts and brings me to my knees Love serves time in the trenches Locking arms, and digging deep Love holds its ground regardless Gives no quarter and takes no leave You might declare “all’s fair” in war, But in love, let’s agree to disagree Love is… Full steam ahead, no turning round Because in this there’s no retreat Love is inflexible, fuelled tenacity Warring with desire to concede Love is scarred, all-out ugly truth, A blatant, brutal, brutish creed With love there is no rational thought It’s death to self to quench my need love means… Sacrifice, forgoing, forget, forgive, All crimes—both the seen and unseen Investing one hundred percent No traded return guaranteed. Love means paying the price, entombed Just so the other can fly free It’s not notes penned with graphite It’s a brand, tattooed, scarred soul deep
