I Love You- 1

Three words. Eight letters. A lifetime of grief. Or pleasure, if you're lucky

How often do we hear these words and expect a miracle?
How often do we hear these words and expect the worst?
'I love you'; hell, you might as well be saying 'I hate you'.
If love is so wonderful,
Then why do we end up in pain?
Is it because we don't know how to give it?
Is it because we don't know how to receive it?
Perhaps it's because it's a bit of both.
How is it that this thing that's so lovely
Hurts us,
Burns us,
Pains us,
Stains us,
Kills us,
Chills us,
And brings out the worst in us?
Why does it make us
Jealous?
Rebellious?
Aggressive?
Obsessive?
Needy?
Greedy?
Why do we feel like dying?
Why does she/he leave us crying?
Why?
Why do we base love on
Beauty?
Sex?
What they can do for us?
Our loneliness?
Amazing how one thing will make us change our minds,
Do things we've never done and say things we've never said.
Amazing how convictions are tossed one by one,
Until we're left broken when all's said and done.
Amazing how we trick ourselves into thinking
That if this one person does this one thing,
Or if we can have this one person,
Or perhaps, if we can just be loved by this one person
That EVERYTHING.....WILL....BE....BETTER.
Sometimes, and only sometimes, it's true.
Sometimes love gives us something to
Believe in,
To hope for,
To dream about,
And we want more.
Sometimes we get lucky and can
Dance,
Sing,
Smile,
Be free.
Love drives us
To be smarter,
To work harder,
To move faster,
To keep what we've been after
For so damn long.
The semantics don't mean what the actions mean,
And sometimes even the actions don't convey,
How love is supposed to be,
And what love is supposed to say.