How do I recognize this thing called love.
Shall I call her by name?
Will her eyes sing songs of deep memory?
Is she meant to tug at my heart,
The push and pull of tides past
Chaining me to her with links of pearl?

How am I meant to recognize love,
If I've never met her before?
If she doesn't feel like the stories and fables,
If she is messy and broken and damaged,
If she hurts more than she keeps,
How am I to know love is real,
And not just chains rusting
In the deep.

But worse,
If I can't recognize love,
But she can recognize me,
Feel the tug of her heart with me,
Want me,
What monster am I
To keep her by my side
Waiting in spendthrift time
For me to recognise this thing called love.