LOVE?

I don't know the first thing about love.

I hear to love is to give.

So I asked: What am I to give?

If I gave you all I have acquired;

At the whiff of your endless desires,

But laced every gift with double meaning,

Has my love then been affirmed?

And if I hopelessly gave without intention,

But all my gestures failed in comparison to your expectation,

Is my love then inadequate?

How can I give when I am in need?

And if we all gave who then receives?

I don’t know a lot about loving.

They said love is ever forgiving;

Taking no record of wrong doing 

and seeking no revenge for transgressions.

Then I thought within myself:

Am I to ignore your lack of repentance

And welcome you into my confidence?

And if I forgave you of the hurt

But withhold my acts of kindness and warmth,

Is my love then justified,

What if I forgave you what I could,

But framed the memories of my wounds,

Would it be accounted unto me as love?

What if I loved but never forgave?

I do not really know,

So I ask rather than assume,

And they say,

To love is to share

To cut my portion in half

Mine is yours and yours is mine

To open up my habitation

My sacred world is now our sanctuary

So I began to wonder:

What if I unveiled my yesterday

And you shut the door on our tomorrow?;

The darkness of it’s reality,

Caused you to bury the hopes of our destiny.

What benefit then has sharing?

So many things they say about love;

To love is to be truly trusting,

To be patiently enduring.

They say love is to sacrifice;

Me for you and you for me,

A calling to be less of self.

I am unsure of what it all means,

I was once told love is friendship;

Equals walking in understanding,

A relationship built on loyalty,

Commitment, care and individuality,

Again I need clarity.

They say love is endless and without condition,

It is divine and void of contention

So many things people have to say, 

Oh so many things I wish I knew,

But forever the question remains,

What then is love?

All, a few, or none of these?

Don't ask me,

I only know what they said.