There are things about the calculus of love
which are meticulously hidden
from the common story

The equations of care and of giving
are set forth as a balance, with a tally
as if love should be judiciously bestowed
on those who prove their worthiness,
who earn it

But this arithmetic cannot account
for the infinity of life released by loving,
the boundless joy that courses through a lover
when love is simply wholly freely given

We’re made to think that if we love,
we’re owed something,
but in the calculus of love
we learn we’re not.
The lessons are not easy
but Love will tutor us,
if we show up in love each day and practice.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 5, 2016