Letter from Love,
Poem by Janine Cerundolo My darling,
Love is not what you thought,
Does not look how you imagined.
That's why when you think too hard about it,
You can't find it.
It's not something you can analyze or predict or understand.
In fact,
Trying so hard to figure it out drives it away.
Love doesn't live inside your forecasting about the future or in your fearful what-ifs.
Love doesn't thrive in the confines of your definitions and your neat labels.
Love can break barriers and most stories that keep things stiff and stale.
Love is meant to be the force that cracks things wide open to reveal their ever-underlying beauty and make it known,
Surfacing it so it can be seen and enjoyed.
Love transforms,
It does not rob.
If something is eating away at you,
It is certainly a block to love.
Don't worry,
Even about your worry,
Meet it.
Your worry is on overdrive because it is scared.
This magnitude of love is unfamiliar and the worry wants to make sure that it's safe to proceed.
In trying to keep you safe,
It may take away the thing that is safest,
Which is always leaning in,
Leaning in to love.
To back away from love's light because you fear getting burned is to cast your own heart into the shadows.
It's colder there,
On the sidelines.
Love will not burn you.
Her radiance finds its power in dismantling doubt,
In forgetting fear,
In replacing restlessness.
Love lets you be here,
Now.
She commands your presence,
She brings you home.
You say you love love,
Then let her have her way with you.
Kneel until you find your knees and bow until you feel your feet.
Surrender with reverence till there's nothing left of you but love.
She'll surprise you in how she shows up.
It's always in the little things.
She doesn't rely on fanfare or fireworks.
She'll give you that hug from behind when you're washing the dishes.
She'll look into your eyes like she belongs there.
She'll ask you to follow and to stay.
Love is majesty,
Not a mystery.
Don't try to solve her.
Clothe her.
Give her a warm bowl of soup and a safe harbor.
Drape yourself around her as she animates your body from within.
Let go of wanting.
Let yourself be wanted.
Sink into the embrace of a warmth that soothes and a brightness that uplifts.
Do you see her now?
Do you feel her in your breath?
Do you know her like she knows you?
Yes,
My dear,
Yes.
She wants to be yours.
