A free verse poem on love and marriage and connecting to your Inner Being, your source of true and unconditional love.
Copyright © Priya Florence Shah. All rights reserved.
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Be love, not the lover.
For love gives freely of itself
to all who need it,
while the lover takes selfishly
what they need from the beloved
and guards their love jealously
should it be scattered too wide and too far.
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A love that binds is not love, but a contract.
A love that holds is not love, but a prison.
For how can one find oneself
when one is lost in a cavern of darkness
and disconnection from the Source of Well-Being,
a purgatory where one’s fears are fed
and love is starved of its nourishment?
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Love is the child of trust,
And trust is the child of knowledge.
Knowledge comes from understanding.
Understanding comes from forgiveness.
Forgiveness comes from acceptance.
Acceptance comes from faith.
And faith comes from the heart.
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But when wants turn to needs,
and needs turn to demands and cravings,
we turn to one another to fulfill them,
thus destroying the very fount of the love
that once held us together.
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The petals of love’s flower
may please you but a while,
but the sharpness of her thorns
can cut much deeper.
Yet, to love is to risk,
both heart and head.
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There’s no love that’s perfect,
nor any marriage so.
Perfection is in the moment
when lovers meet in the fullness
of their own self-love and acceptance.
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So venture not into marriage blindly,
but softly, with wisdom, kindness,
and respect for one another.
Without conditions, without reservation,
without the need for apologies.
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Your beloved is not a slave
to serve you and fulfill all your needs.
Nor are they meant to fill
the hole in your soul,
the cravings you have been
unable to meet with your own self-love.
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For true love is not clinging or craving,
but unconditional and pure.
It springs forth not from
your lover’s nature or looks,
but from a desire for love to flow
through you and to you,
unconstrained and free,
until it fills your cup
and overflows into the world.
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True love is not given expediently and for benefits.
It is not transactional, nor is it held back
for favors and unmet expectations,
but shared without the need for reciprocation,
like the love of a mother for a child.
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There is a light at the end of this tunnel,
and it is the guide to my True Self,
my Inner Being, my soul mate, my other half,
who knows me better than myself,
who loves me without fail,
who will never leave me heartbroken…
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Love is the birthplace of all things.
Love is the Source of all things.
Love binds Heaven and Earth
together in a great dance of life.
Love is what makes this world go round.
For without love, we would be
nothing but dust particles floating,
lost forever in a vast cosmic darkness.
Love is all there is, and all it needs, to be true love.
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