Love is Love

vi.sualize.us

Do you believe....
The words escaped
Her lips in a whisper.
Almost as though
She had exhaled
The works like spent air,
Technically, carbon dioxide.

My grandmother
Was not prone
To speaking at length.
Actually, I knew her
Not to talk at all
As she died
Long before I was
A twinkle in my parents' eyes.

And yet here she sat
On the corner of my bed.
This was a dream
Or so I kept
Repeating to myself.
Still, I did not
Pinch myself, thinking
It would be a tad
Disrespectful.

Then she repeated
Her question,
This time louder.
This time with an object
As well as a subject and verb.

Do you believe in love?
I looked away.
How do you explain
To your grandmother
That you had closed your heart
And chose not to love,
Chose not to seek it,
Chose not to let it in.

Coolness touched my chin
Turning my head
So that I met her gaze.
She waited,
She would have waited
From now to forever.
I had no choice
But to be honest.

She listened
As I emptied my soul
Into the night.
She listened as the moon
Traveled west
And the stars watched .
Then she whispered again.

Love is love.
Love is not a missing pen
That you have to look
High and low for.
Love is out in the open
And if you continue
To look for it in
Nooks and crannies,
You will never find it.

Love is not for one
Who hides their heart
Afraid that it would
Be abused,
That it would
Be broken.
If you do not,
Can not love,
How can you be loved?

This night
As the full, shiny moon
Traversed west,
A dead grandmother
Taught her granddaughter
How to love again.
And as the weight
Of the Sandman’s
Sands closed my eyes,
I felt coolness
On my forehead
Where my grandmother
Kissed me goodnight.

I saw her twice more
In my lifetime.
Once on the eve
Of my wedding day.
She taught me
How to love my husband.
The second time
Was when my newborn child
Slept in the cot beside me.
She taught me
How to love my child.

Every time I saw her
She whispered
Love is love.