Biology shapes us
Society shapes us
The circle around us shapes us
The book we read, shapes us
The road we travel, shapes us

May be...
The circle we keep distance
Could have shaped us better
The book we skipped to read
Could have shaped us better
The road we bypass
Could have shaped us better
The fall we fear to embrace
Could have shaped us better
The collision we prevent
Could have shaped us better

Understanding shapes us
Consciousness shapes us
You are you
I am I
I am you

The first lesson is to be still
the next is to wait
while you look long
and listen deep
that you might love all the more.

confident embracing failure
comfortable with self-doubt
curious about bumps and scrapes
convinced I've found what counts

balancing needs with desires
encountering more than I sought
wondering if it's really about
leaving with more than I brought

climbing beyond the summit
flying above the clouds
reaching where I aimed to be
least there or thereabouts

So this is love? I’ve asked myself so many times over the course of my life. I really didn’t have any examples of what love should look like or feel like. How do you know when it’s real. How do you keep fear from creeping in and spoiling things before you get a chance to understand the feeling. So this is love.

I’ve never been in love but I imagine it’s something beautiful like yellow tulips still closed up so that only I can witness them blooming. Could this be love? I really don’t know because I’ve never had a love like this before.

Maybe love is ink spilled onto cards, poems to paper, words buried deep inside the heart or whispered so low that only God can hear it, “please god don’t let me mess this up. Teach me to be the woman you want me to be for this man but I don’t wanna get my hopes up too high.” Could this be love.

Learning to be patient because you just can’t rush forever. Abstaining in secret because attention from anyone else just won’t do.

Some how I get the feeling that love comes to teach and uplift. Perhaps she brings healing to whomever she touches, Calms all fears and  isn’t quick to run away but she is surprisingly quick to forgive.

Love will no longer hide from me. She surrounds me in her warmth and the fear that lies deep in my heart melts away. I will dance freely in her touch and the one who sees my heart will meet me there.

His smile will grab my attention and I will be truly enamored by the sound of his voice and his powerful yet tender demeanor. So this is love, I will say to myself as I am drawn deeper into his embrace, afraid but there is no turning back.

So this is love.        
So this is love
So… this… is…

Love.