I just realized,
my love is unconditional.

I do not keep my tiger love caged in my heart,
awaiting the day you unlock it from its silent captivity.

I do not envelope my childish love in a colorful plastic ball,
floating only on a steady stream of your affection.

I do not lay my heavy love on a bed of nails,
praying that not one spike protrudes

My love does not bite its nails
in anticipation of your call.

My love does not boil
in heated angst for your touch.

my love is.
It just is.

It sits happily in my chest,
with a smile that knows.

It just knows.

I would say you have my love,
but that would be a lie.

It rests, in joyous surrender
where you left it.

It is my guide when I explore the mysteries
deep inside of me.

My love is your gift.

I surrender the rest of my life
to ruminations on its wonder

so that I may learn to gift it as you have:
freely, patiently... unconditionally.

How do you feel when the waves from the ocean come out to grab you in the water with them, and you cannot go? How do you feel when your old memories pull your soul to a place you miss, but do not remember? How do you feel when the words that live inside your mind eat away at your heart, yet you're even stronger? I want to see the way the moon light hits your face and still makes you look beautiful from every angle. I want to be the one to dust off the dirt that people throw at you, that you don't cry away, that makes you look beautiful anyway. How do you write your 'a' 's? I want to breathe in your scent every night before the dreams start. I want to keep a piece of your writing stapled to my wrist so I have a chance at being as eloquent as you always are. You never say 'sink or swim'; to you, sinking was never an option. How do you feel about your house number? What goes through your mind when you hear the word 'back'? What makes ''to delay is to lose.'' Your favourite quote? Why are blue jeans your favourite? Why do you always look up to the light but never down on the darkness? If I could be a star in the sky, the unlimited space beyond planets and moons still would be unable to answer
why
every
answer
from
you
creates
a tsunami
under
the depths
of this
earth.

and when kindling
    will no longer suffice
             those dried fragments
                 so easily sacrificed
   i am called to surrender my heartwood                
             may it burn slow steady and bright
          through the length of freeze and darkness
            until miracle tender brave branching
                     when blessed returns our Sol
               *burning Self that we may thrive
                        keeping vision fires alive