How many more poems can be written about love?
How many more times do we have to hear about a force
so sick and so twisted
that gets you enlisted
in a war of emotions you did not pledge allegiance to.

Now when I say love,
Your eyes become more glazed over
than a sugary donut hole
a flakey, fattening, fleeting substance
with the inability to make you whole
because that is what love has become

I love you
I love you
I love you
three little words
seven little letters
three little syllables 
that slip too easily from our tongues and finger tips
Now figure this

If  there are over 7 billion souls on this earth
a number growing greater with every miraculous birth 
then why is it that we can’t find self worth 
when seven billion voices consistently say- 
“I love you”

You would think with these words
on our mouths 
and on our screens
that we would be
a society submerged in selflessness
yet love has lost its meaning-
and it’s becoming meaningless
because of the way we abuse it

“I  love your hair”
“I love your skirt”

I don’t love the way you fling and flirt
with everything that surrounds you
as if it were astounding you
utilizing these words when you don’t even mean them 
because it has become so common place
yet we can’t can look our own mothers in the face
and mutter these three syllables without disgrace
because we lost the meaning of a word
that continued the human race

We “love” a boy after holding hands for a week
We “love” a girl after one night when we were too drunk to speak
We “love” the people who bring us down
We “love” and live for our enemy’s frown
We “love” the feeling a substance can give
but we wake up hangover forgetting how to live

You “love” that color
you “love” that song
but don’t know the words well enough to even sing along
you “love” your phone
you  ”love” your car
you “love” the fleeting things
but you never love who you are
And you never love the people that love you.

See there are still people who remember the definition of love.
Somewhere fathers still play catch with their sons
when it’s too hot outside and they’d rather be done
somewhere a mother is tucking in her sick child
and wiping up putrid puke all the while 
somewhere there are sisters braiding each others’ hair
instead of locking their doors and acting like they don’t care
somewhere an uncle is teaching how to fish
somewhere a grandma is crafting a delectable dish 
and somewhere there is a couple holding hands
but when one of them says I love you,
the other understands.

Love is not hallow chocolate hearts
love is not ribbons and bows
or artificial substances that give us false starts
Love is not a word you give someone after the first date
love is not a tool you use to hook and catch a mate

Love is patience
love is selflessness
love is care 
love saves us from helplessness
when we can reach a point when we truly love ourselves
we can put the hallow hearts back on the store shelves
because love cannot be bought
love cannot be sold
love is something you treasure 
love is  something you hold
love is an understanding between human beings
love cannot be defined by thoughts and things
love is action
love is reaction
love is too powerful a force to be lacking
love is kindness
love is kisses
the ones you give when you’ve seen someone’s scars
and you don’t  mind
because under that flesh
is one of those seven billion souls
that you can connect with.

Love is when I was thirteen years old
without a will to live 
feeling my family falling to pieces
and all my mother could do was give
a kindness in her eyes 
a strength beating in her heart
she saw all my faults
and instead of tearing me apart
she used the three words
ringing in a definition true
enlaced in her arms,
I hear her whisper-
I love you.

Instead of fearing a word we use to abuse
let’s mean what we say
and put those three syllables to use
Because if we wanted to,
we could change the world

We fear love because it is a force too great
for the  ”mass times acceleration” calculation
We fear the fact that it fits no formula
so we’ve downgraded and deteriorated
a powerful word
to only be heard
when describing birds and bees
and colors and trees
and the tangible substances that can be calculated

Throw out your equations
and the substance inducted sensations
know that even though love will not always be returned
and your heart will get a bit battered and burned
finding an honest love is something to be learned
so seek to selflessly love
and you will be loved in return.