i've Come to Know Love

i’ve known love but only from the inside
from the inside giving out
not even from the inside looking out
for what I saw
was not love.

i thought it was
until a moment
when I saw what it was
was love.       but
not the giving out kind

and then i came to know
that some live without love
~ whether for fear of it
or having no need of it ~
and that maybe, all we ever do with love
is live with burning hunger for it
We dream of it
in front of us, inside us
it helps us sleep until
it begins to keep us from sleep.

Once, i came to know
then chose
that knowing
and breathing while knowing
requires neither believing
in things like trust
in not being hurt by it
in the freedom to choose
in being who I want
but it requires living who I want
regardless of all that may come.

• ^{15th February 2021, Geochang}
• ^{i’ve Come to Know Love by African Dissident is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0}