Love is...(Not)
Because I love you, give me your phone, give up your plans,
leave your friends, your dreams, and your hopes at the door.
Because I love you, construct a prison for yourself,
give up your freedom, and live for me.
"Because I love you" is not love. It is a contract,
Forced servitude with no escape, promising only a downward spiral,
A guarantee of false-promises, sugar-coated candy words veiling arsenic threats.
Love is a bird, feeble and flighty, able to spook with ease,
Yet on thin boned wings, it may alight,
Reaching heights once thought impossible.
Love is not a cage,
built of gilded thorns and sickly sweet poison,
A foundation of lies with despair at its center.
Love is a house,
Built brick by brick by two sets of hands,
Lovingly constructed with promises made right on,
Equal work done by both parties, equilibrium built from combined strength.
Love is not a war,
Tactics to manipulate, exhibiting power over those below you,
The victor gaining fealty as the runner-up is left twisted into a husk.
Love is a shield,
Stronger when forged with the heat of passion,
Genuine sparks giving light to a newfound creation,
Improving upon two concepts,
Unifying and protecting feeble hopes and dreams.
Love is not a bet,
Sleight of hand and contracts,
Promising darker deeds fulfilled regardless,
Whether the other party truly wishes it or not.
Love is genuine,
A gift given selflessly and selfishly in equal measure.
It is not an excuse,
Nor a reason to treat another human being like they’re lesser.
Loving someone is not weakness,
It is a beautiful gift given out of trust and adoration.
Loving someone is not a crime,
Deserving punishment or isolation in return.
Love should be freeing, not condemning,
Selfless, not selfish,
Kind, not cruel,
Love is not a sin,
Nor should it be treated as such.
You are not a bad person for loving yourself,
And if the person you love doesn’t respect that,
That’s not Love.
Disregarding yourself for the sake of another,
That's not Love.