what is love anyway?

image from pixabay

 

What’s love got to do with it? Tina Turner asks…

Good question. 

“I’m not a smart man but I know what love is.” says Forest Gump.

Well I don’t. 

What is love?  It has a different definition for each of us…if it exists at all.

I don’t know what love is.

BUT I know what it isn’t.

Love is not about power.

Love is not control.

Love is not abuse.

Belittling someone is not love.

Controlling someone is not love.

Beating someone is not love.

If my father loved me he wouldn’t have abused me- verbally, emotionally, physically or sexually.

If my brother, cousins, uncle loved me they wouldn’t have touched me in that way.

If my grandparents loved me they would have taken me out of the situation or done something to help.

If my mother loved me she wouldn’t have made me feel less than.  She wouldn’t have encouraged my brother’s abuses.  She wouldn’t have been jealous of my father’s attention.

I could go on and on there are many more examples…but let’s fast forward to adult relationships.

Just a couple examples:

 If “D” loved me he wouldn’t have chipped away at what little self-esteem I had. He wouldn’t have asked me why I deprived him from being with “hot” girls. He wouldn’t have literally spat in my face.

If “N” loved me he wouldn’t have told me how wonderful I was, how fun and creative and passionate I was but then break up with me cause it was time he settled down and he “didn’t want his kids to have a fat mom.”

You know what else love isn’t?

Love is not losing yourself in someone else.

It is not about sacrifice.  It is all well and good to do things for the ones you love AND you shouldn’t have to do so at the expense of yourself.

Love should not be based on fear.

Love should not hurt.

 

~Melanie Thomason

02/21/2020

summer love~haiku

Image by kordula vahle from Pixabay

sunshine, salty breeze

siren song beseeching me-

paradise awaits

♥

troubles melt away

scrunching sand under bare feet-

ocean waves hello

♥

beauty surrounds me

swimming into the sunset-

please don’t follow me

Melanie Thomason

7/5/19

 

 

Beautiful Friend

http://www.layoutsparks.com/pictures/butterfly-13

 

I could —

But there is Death to remember,

Jim’s beautiful friend,

there is the pain to remember

the pretty red thoughts of steel on skin

and the stinging bite as you slide flesh under blade

~

I could —

But there is a time for everything

and maybe my bones need not be ground to dust just yet

or maybe there is time left to dream

~

I am a butterfly in chains,

black booted, bereaved, all in sinner’s black

~

There is a time and place for everything

oh why is it so damn difficult

this business of love and Death

and oh what a mess

~Melanie Thomason

everlasting love

Image by Camilo Contreras from Pixabay

 

when poet meets muse

their kisses are poetry;

everlasting love

~Melanie Thomason

4/7/19

 

shadow of what once was

Image by bruce lam from Pixabay

in fleeting kisses

our breaths mingle

hands once held tightly

have lost their grasp

still our lives are entwined

our love is still true

just a shadow

of what once was

~Melanie Thomason

4/6/19

 

 

woman of his dreams

a murmuring voice called to him softly from the forest

perplexing, as no one was supposed to be around

no one for miles

that is why he chose this place

the breeze carried sweet songs of wren to his ear

normally he would delight in their melody,

yet their tune was agitating

distracting him from finding the source of the lulling, hypnotic siren’s call

 he needed to find the voice that, even now, from a distance,

was having such a palliative effect on him

giving him hope and new reason to live

he walked a bit too briskly through the woods,

finding patches of dried leaves made for slippery footing

and he almost tumbled into the lake before he saw it

and it was her reflection that first mesmerized

there was something supernal about her beauty

he was half afraid she would evaporate when he looked up

yet

there she was… in graphic detail, drenched in sunlight

fully exposed to his hungry, grateful gaze

not vapor, yet not really flesh and bone

skin kissed golden by an artist’s brush,

hair adorned with flowers and moss,

she was the epitome of beauty and nature

she was all he searched for yet never felt worthy of

at once he felt a desire, a lust, not for his pleasure alone

but to see her face alight with joy, with ecstasy

and to know that he had given that to her

who had given him everything

~Melanie Thomason

5/12/2014

 

 

 

 

 

math and baggage

we are but travelers here

picking up a few souvenirs along the way

i know things don’t always go right

and so i write

ya see I’ve never been good at math

but when I feel like i have nothing left

it all adds up to you

there beside me,

slightly to the left

making me more than one

and i know that i have won

I am worthy of love after all

and that particular piece of baggage can be tossed aside

cause i no longer have need of it

~Melanie Thomason

 

 

 

 

 

tangled up in you

Walking around in circles

never seems

to get me very far

Somehow

despite the distance,

I keep ending up

back

exactly where you are

You see my love,

my heart

is all tangled up in you 

And whether or not you want it

there is nothing you can do

My heart keeps returning,

it seems out of my control

You see without you I am lacking,

I am strong

but I am un-whole

Now don’t mishear me,

I’m not looking for fairy tales

Fireworks are overrated,

true love is in the day to day details

I’m not expecting a white knight hero

on a charging stately steed

All I’m expecting is to finally

get precisely what I need

I’m older now

and I’ve been around the block

a time or two

I’m tired of waiting,

ready to start now,

how bout you?

 

~Melanie Thomason

4/4/2018