FREE LOVE


By Justus E. Taylor

187 Words

Copyright © 2007 by Justus E. Taylor

       


        The speaker warned:


        Unchained lust is a joy.
        But unearned love is toxic.
        Unchained lust is a toy.
        But love, for free, is caustic.


        Love is devotion to or from another.
        Lust is devotion to a fantasy preserved.
        Love means helping that other.
        Real love is love that is deserved.

        Love is only sometimes sexual.
        Lust is limited to a carnal view.
        Love is unable to just be casual.
        Lust is excluded from pure friendships' glue.

        But unearned love is a letter bomb.
        It distorts the receiver's sense of self.
        It makes for a lonely life, as in a tomb.
        Because it overvalues the receiver's worth.

        Love, unearned, speaks of something for nothing.
        It poisons a commitment to be worthwhile.
        It crushes the idea and the need for working.
        Love, unearned, denies that life is a trial.

        Gratitude for love is not weakness.
        Respect for givers is not self-denial.
        Just taking is not cleverness.
        Self-respect is not enhanced by guile.

        Protect all those who love you.
        Work to deserve their care.
        Learn what the world needs from you.
        Enjoy unchained lust too, in time made to spare.