By Athena Stairs, November 10, 2026
Love isn’t easy yeah it’s hard work
Can’t get away with letting it shirk
Its unkempt mess will wreck everything
Then we’ll wonder why we have trusted
It’s a wild thing that must continue to wing
But needs our hearts’ clear directions
You can’t tame its desire for lack of convention
Although many have tried to their own dementia
There’s an art to lassoing the bucking brute
And tenderness must be extended to soothe
More carrots than sticks will be approved
Don’t think that you can fake and grin at it
For sharpest teeth do rend and cleave
Falsitudes in exacting vicissitudes
When the effort it takes to run away
Could have built a home to return to
While it’s true upon finding its shelter
Awareness is brought to bruised bones
Which must be ignored in foul tempests
As gails match the soul’s wails and moans
But come in from inclement weather
Do not fear comfort’s warming throne
Unless taken in by a tavern
Where cost incurs more than what’s owed
I too know what you have encountered
Its ache resides under my breast
Yet is it still better to live as ghosts
Relinquishing keys to our chest?
