Linda Studley

What I’ve Learned of Love

Foolish poets speak of love
Foolish lovers quote the poets
they pine and swoon and long for love
till someone else deigns to bestow it.

Poet, lover, both aspire to
lose themselves in someone’s eyes.
Aspire to give their heart away
as if it were some tawdry prize.

I’ve been loved and have loved also,
and what I’ve come to understand
is two can’t become one unless
each are strong enough to stand

alone, but choose to be together,
each one absolutely free
to find delight in one another
and be just as they want to be.

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