Does true love exist, Or do we simply dream it, To fill empty lives?
And if it is real, Do we see it with our hearts, Or just with our eyes?
Can we ever tell, Self-delusion from true love, And does it matter?
Should we not embrace, A chance for shared joy when found, If it does no harm?
Believe in true love, Hope and dream and strive for it, If it's not yet yours.
It gives life meaning, Makes all our pain bearable, Keeps away despair.
These linked haikus are also a takeoff on my short story "Amor Vincit Omnia" that deals with humor with a very serious topic--the need to be understood and loved with our faults and the mind's rebellion against real or perceived incompatibility with our mates that can lead to some unusual consequences. Can the quest for true love lead to a path of self delusion and madness, or can the universe however strangely or unlikely bring two well-matched, lonely souls together? If we find true love, be it in madness, self delusion or reality, does it fundamentally matter at all?