Love is a lie
Love is a lie
Sold to us
On the back of
Valentine’s day,
Christmas presents,
Advertisements,
Glossy magazines.
Love is a lie
Because how can I
say I love you
When U and I
Are mere vowels
That fade so fast
In the light
Of I Am I?
How can
the River
love the Sea?
Where do I end
and
You begin?
You see?
Love is a lie
Because to love
You also need
An enemy
And I don’t only
love my Child
I love yours too
And love is inadequate
To express
The blood I would spill
Love is a lie
Because to say
That we love is
To say that we
Can hate
And I can’t
Won’t
Don’t
Abide the stench
Of Yours
And Mine
Of Borders
And Defence
Weapons and Invasion
Any longer.
Love is a lie
Built on an
Ideology
Of separation
And supremacy
Loneliness
And pain.
Love is a lie
Because the soul
Does not lie
And yet they have told us
That Mother’s love
Is the best
And yet it is our Mothers who
Send the children
To church
To school
To War
Isn’t it?
Love is a lie
Because it
Always divides
Doesn’t it?
And even though we
say we ‘love’ our children
We still test them
Again and again
Until they no longer
Believe in themselves
And why should they
Believe in themselves
When we don’t trust them
Or Ourselves or each other?
And how could we trust ourselves
When our parents told us
They loved us in our perfection
And then submitted us for
Examination
Again and again
As if perhaps somehow
We were not perfect
in our Innocence
After all?
Love is a lie
It cannot
Be defined
And I will teach my child
And yours, if you allow
That his soul
is the same
As any other
And that
To know thyself
Is to know the truth
And to be set free
from the lie
And did you notice
That the ‘love’
You were sold
Was bought
With Your Soul?
Love is a lie
An inadequate
Substitute for the truth
And the glory
And the majesty
Of who and what
You really are.
So please, stop looking
For love because
It’s a lie
And deep down
In the marrow of your
Naked bones
You know
What you are.
For more self-study, The Urban Howl recommends Why I Love You: A Journal of Us (What I Love About You Journal).