When you fell in love
Did the Earth move beneath you?
Or did love surround you
Slowly like gentle waves
You hardly noticed until
They reached your heart?
In others’ stories,
We listen for our own
Of love that lasted
Sixty years
Or five months
Or three days.
Have you waited
As I have
For someone to call?
Or did you
Wait by the phone,
Picking it up
Putting it down
And picking it up again?
Have you stood next
To your beloved,
Angry and tired
And thinking,
If you say, “I am sorry,” first,
I will say it, too?
Have you wondered
If your heart could
Bear the grief of
Your beloved’s passing?
Love demands courage
Loving sometimes takes
All that we have.
Whether you are single
Or part of a pair.
Newly in love
Or in love for so long
You cannot remember
Love demands courage
Loving sometimes takes
All that we have.