love is not 

 

love is not possession

love is not obsession

nor is it dissolution

of the self except in fleeting

moments of passion

 

love is not fixing

love is not needy 

love is not forcing

unwanted gifts

nor demanding reciprocity 

 

love is not being half

nor dependency

love is no debt 

nor a prison of

all consuming exclusivity

 

love is not prostration 

not hero worship

love is not idle flattery

love is not expectation 

nor promises that are fantasy

 

love is not helpless

nor is it blind 

love is not the feeling

without the work

love is not losing your mind 

 

if you think that’s what love is

then I do not love you

 

©️janey colbourne 2018