The cradle is where it is taught

that love is a gift given by the stars - 

who fortell our fortune 

before our first breath.

 

It is told that love is a light - 

patient, kind, and merciful.

It is the grace of the spirit that purifies

and allows the unforgivable to be forgiven.

 

But seldom are we taught what love is not...

 

Love is not withholding water

when begged for just a soothing drop - 

but allowing frozen silence to deal

punishment for indsicretion. 

 

Love is not a stream of lava

bubbling up from lips like hot coals - 

aiming to scald the spirit

and teach smallness to make room for fire.

 

Love is not unyielding as steel,

commanding obedience, 

dictating any folly - 

sowing seeds of fear and shame.

 

Love is not fleeting - 

Love is not wind, it does not change.

A man cannot be a man in the daylight

and a serpent in the darkness.

 

Therefore know that all of these things love is not...

But - 

 

Love is an outstretched hand - 

Welcoming you to walk alongside it 

as an equal, as a friend, 

pulling you towards the light.

 

Love is the shade of a palm leaf, 

which is a conforter and protector

from all things that may come - 

sun and rain alike. 

 

Love is freedom vaster than the star-filled skies

infinite as an ocean, timeless as the cosmos.

It does not control or confine,

It sets free. 

 

Love is the absence of fear, 

the certainty in eternity,

the power to see others like mirrors.

It is the mover of mountains... 

 

Love is grace. 

It is not prideful, it does not shame, 

It is peace. 

 

Know now that the stars do not foretell false love.

It is pure love that teaches the stars themselves to dance,

that bestows softness in one's eyes.

True love stretches time out beyond the horizon.

True love heals all things... 

 

Go forth giving and receiving live purely: 

Love does not wound, it heals - 

Love does not take, it gives - 

Love does not scorn, it exalts - 

Love is not slavery, it is freedom - 

Love...

 

Love does not exist to please itself...

Do not accept selfish love...