Love is an emotion.
But loving someone
is a long and demanding process.
It is dedication, devotion and consistency.
A test of your resilience, faith and honesty.
To delve into the deepest fears, insecurities
and wounds of someone,
their childhood, youth...
the first time they were bullied,
the times when they felt lonely.
The things they like
and the ones they despise,
how they like to spend their Saturday nights
and why,
what broke them,
how many times
and how they healed
without a mentor or guide.
What is their relationship like
with their parents, friends and relatives.
Who is the person
they trust enough to confide in.
Whether they prefer tea or coffee...
their favorite dish, their favorite sports team.
To know why they tremble
at the thought of public speaking
and how they need to be held
and reassured
when they're breaking.
Loving someone
is opening up the fibers of your being
and knitting a warm quilt
by interweaving
the threads of theirs and your story.
I don't know how people do it...
how they fall in love
for the second, third, fourth and fifth time.
From where do they gather the energy...
to do all of it all over again.
How they bare their bodies
before strangers
and bathe in the heat
that doesn't brew the broth of their dreams
but simply burns everything that has meaning.
I don't know how people hug someone
and don't wither
at the thought of losing them.
Don't they feel empty...
after throwing parts of themselves at so many.
Don't they feel scattered...
in the touch, sighs, whispers
and sweet nothings of so many.
Is it really love what they feel
or a compensation of sorts,
for their inability to commit
to the truth of their own being.

©whitewings