Considering what it is to love,
Why would I not?
How, among these people
could there be any reason —
Any reason not to love them?
Would I
not love them
because of their pain?
would I
not love them
because of their wounds,
and how they carry themselves
shielding what is vulnerable?
would I
not love them
because of the way they’ve found
to move in the world —
what they use to feed their hopes,
and their patched-together life-rafts of the things
that let them know that they are worthy?
Or how they talk, or how they look, or how they smell?
No. There is no reason not to love them
No reason not to throw the cloak of caring
over their shoulders
and wrap them in the fabric of my presence
and be there for them. Whenever.
Considering what it is to love,
How could I not?
For to love is what defines us
and love is what we are.
©Wendy Mulhern
June 13, 2012