they say love is blind
yet only now am I able to see
a look at myself in the mirror
that is: you
did I know love before?
or was I blindfolded

they say love is pain
yet past wounds seem forgotten
a new, blank piece of paper
empty lines waiting for ink
allowing for a new kind of vulnerability
all this room for a pain yet unknown

they say love will save your soul
how could it not?
its pieces I seemed to have lost
found, recognized, known by you
put them back together, not realizing
they’re all yours

I don’t know the truth about love
I know we’ll find our own
love, to me,
is you
has always been
you

you spent all these days, years, decades
fighting
using every bit of energy
as if it were a competition
that you didn’t want to lose
                         –
but the truth is, you lost
only now do you see
the battlefield you stood on all this time
hidden in the shape of your body
(in)visible
                         –
these kinds of wounds don’t heal easily
do they ever?
can’t fix them, so accept them
paint that flag white and raise it