Love Enough.

Do I have love, enough for the both of us

to use when you can't love me back.

Should  I know in that moment

when life comes in the way,

You will say something to the opposite of me.

And I-

will I have enough love to stay silent

to know that later,

maybe even today,

the tide will have turned.

The receding shorelines will swell 

and on that swell will ride love again.

Do I have love, enough for the both of us

to treat with care the words you say.

Your mouth, that forms each syllable, sometimes carelessly,

is still beautiful to me, with it's full, curved lip.

It is something to be savoured gently

despite it’s ragged words.

Will I have enough love to know

that these are just sounds said but not meant, 

like smoke rings, they will dissipate,

passing through your mouth and into thin air.

That your mouth has been taken over by some other thing.

That I will wait until your mouth is mine again.

Do I have love, enough for both of us

To love me when you can’t.

To stay whole and complete.

To be ready for you.

To be your home and mine.

A home where the breeze blows through freely,

sometimes smelling of night jasmine and sometimes of a black storm.

With waves, raging outside my door, 

the same door I have shut, but not locked.

Yes.

When I hear you knock sometime later I will answer.

There is enough love for that.

-Maya Bhalla, 2014