It would not be enough
to fall in love and love but how
to keep this flame alive
it's easy to assume now

'  All will be fine
we'll love each other forever'
love's journey is hurtful
often painful--never

should the lovers forget:
real tests are just to begin
(the honeymoon is over)
would their love turn cold and thin?

Love is not everlasting sweetness
as the poets would have lovers believe
millions of tears would need to fall
and would need time for healing or relief.

You hold love too tightly
it rebels and says: 'Let me be free'
letting go is the greatest wisdom-verily-
if lovers are to be happy.

Each unto their own in liberty
and yet each is drawn closer in harmony
love is not meant to be one's monopoly
but letting the other to flower into utmost beauty.

There are those who are more enamoured
of dreams than reality
wherein lie their secret longings
cradled in imagination and fantasy--

to be in love with someone they had never met
to surrender to a face, a smile, a kiss,  a moment of ecstasy
beyond the pale of insipid daily living--
far transcending every earthly beauty.