Love isn't Safe

What I want has nothing to do with me.
Love- a giving word
that does not ask for compensation.

I cannot create it
I cannot make it, I have no say.

Love is not something that can be controlled.
Love is surrender.

It is a force that does not come from without
but within.
A force, compelling and absolute
as life finding a will to live
as the planets trying to escape their orbit around a star
as a bird's unwillingness to become grounded.

Love is probably one of the biggest risks to take in a lifetime

because it requires complete openness to another 
and invested trust in them.

Love is transformative.
Losing it can strip you of everything you thought you knew,
thought you had built,
thought you were
and leave you soft and naked like a baby
discovering the world for the first time
crying from a forgotten depth of existence.

Love
As the lights cascade across the skies and down your cheek,
I want to laugh nonsense with you until the crickets hum us their lullabies.
I want to lay in a tent with you and listen to the rush of the rain.
As their drops trickle over our fortress, swaddled like children, I want to caress your feet with my soles, and trace the outline of your face up and down with gentle fingertips.
I want to hear the sound of the earth with you.
I want to bury my head into your chest and feel the deep drumming, dancing, the beat within you.
I want every season with you. I want to feel the changes, exchanges, and the rearrangements with you.
an exchange
an embrace
an invitation
to make meaning of our lives.