there is something
that people call love
but I’m sorry to say
has nothing to do with love

people live inside their pain
they wrap their wounds
around each other
in a crazy dance
of push and pull
they call love
but is really
the dance of self
protection

there is a love
beyond all that
a love that is 
a state of being
out of which 
all activity arises.

this love doesn’t 
need anything
to be full
it doesn’t wrap anything around anybody
it is whole unto itself
this love is the silent depth
of being
and it cannot be bargained with
or manipulated.

it is not grandiose
or bombastic 
it really is very tender
and gracious
but has the power
of the universe behind it
because it IS the power
of the universe.