Love is…
…Affirmation
The small words
Lost in a paragraph
As you’re told your feelings
Are as valid and real
As your experiences.
A theme repeated
From one mouth to the next
While all you can manage
Is a simple “thank you”
When you are lost in a sea
Of inescapable emotion
You can do nothing about
But endure
Until the waves pass.

…Small Talk
Messages crossing an unbridgeable chasm
Despite the problems at home
Or maybe because of them.
Little conversations
Taking a minute or less
With no greater purpose than to say
“I am here,
And you are there.
But no distance can pull us apart
And time will wear down our bodies
Before it breaks this connection.”
Tiny letters in the ether
That carry more than the
Bytes that comprise them.
…Determination
A message repeated
Until the sender fears
Their persistence is causing pain,
But which they send once again
With the hope that, this time,
It will finally be received.
An offer of shared joy,
Meant to lift spirits
And bear some of the burden
That presses down on us all.

…Sharing
Patient explanation
Of something held dear
To someone who seems desperate
To find something to distract.
Careful discussions
Meant to pull them in
And bind them in a spell
That trapped you long ago
In a world so much larger
Than the dark place you lived:
Than the dark place they lived
And that they maybe still live.
…Patience
Unobtrusive acknowledgment
And an ear always ready to listen
Even when you know
It will only ever be
More of the same.
Kind words without presumption
That are always ready
To turn into a probing question
Or insightful remark
Meant to help them understand
What’s really on their mind.
…Small Gifts
Time spent on sharing a laugh
Or a present meant
To let someone know
You are thinking of them.
A little bit of you:
Your time or your gifts
Meant only for them
That you give freely.
Sometimes more than you can afford
But you want them to know
They’re worth it.
…Love
Sometimes it is a thing
You give yourself.
Sometimes you need someone else
To give it to you.
Sometimes it seems
Out of your reach
And you wonder if you
Deserve something so special.
But love is love
And being loved
Is what always makes you worthy.