To Understand Everything About Love

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She vowed 

to understand Love:

 

How to give it

How to receive it

 

She read every book

watched every movie

 

She learned every position

watched every talk show

 

But never after midnight

never after dark

 

She was a learning husk

From dawn to dusk

from rose to musk

 :::

 

Then she asked:

What did I learn?

 

And her heart did burn

like a singed wing

because 

she learned 

Nothing

 

Then she said:

Maybe, I'll just wait.

 

And the walls did shake

whispering the word

"Hate"

 

Then she said:

Should I quit?

 

And the walls did shake

whispering the word

"Opposite"

 

Then the wall said:

You can't have one

without the other

just as 

you can't have a father

without a mother

 

You can't have Love

without Hate

but what is great

is when the former

wins 

and all the sins

—yours and not yours—

dance and prance

on all the floors

and all the doors

open and close

 

The scent of the rose

fills your nose

with succulent breeze

if you know when 

to sneeze

 

If you can't think

of both sides

then 

you can't ever

learn to think

 

You can't swim

without knowing

how to sink

 

All that will matter 

is you avoid the latter

***

 

© OLIVERIO ©

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