To love me properly
Be vulnerable
Come honest
Practice deep curiosity
Not just about me
About EVERYTHING!
Be emotionally intelligent
Especially about yourself
Dream
Imagine
Never forget how to look at me
Like I'm the North Star
Want me to write books of poetry about
How you and me equals us
Dance with me to the rhythm of our heartbeats
Enjoy staying up into the quiet hours
Discussing obscure and wonderful things
Willingly and gently hold space for me
Be okay with being, and being with quiet company
Give and receive love in spontaneous small gestures
Own your imperfections gracefully
Own your mistakes openly
Love me fiercely and without chains
Hunt for magic in the world
Create magic in its absence
Play for the sake of it
Respect me in thought, word, and deed
Honor me by dancing in the light of all my
Shining diamond facets
I'll do the same for you
Desire to embrace a prismatic life
Whatever is left undefined here
Treat as an opportunity to dive deeper
Learn more
Know me better
I am bottomless
An endless landscape to explore
Be willing to be broken open
I want to run my mind over every square inch of your soul
Commit to memory the scars life has left on your heart
So that I may know how to navigate your rough waters
I want to listen to the meanderings of your inner child
I want to know you in 360 degrees
And three dimensions
Be brave enough to shine light into your shadows
Unashamed because you understand
How important healing oneself is
Be secure in my transparency
Be like stained glass
Brilliantly and complexly designed
Beautiful and translucent
Know that love is a lifetime conversation
A dance that never ends
Shifting and changing
Gracefully synchronized
The prerequisites for loving me properly
May sound unachievable
But to the right person
It will sound like a revelation
-gws
Tag: Love
Possibilities
I fall in love multiple times a day
I am wooed by the beauty of the waking sky
The feel of hot water on my skin
The rich deep smell of brewing coffee
Enchanted with my children's laughter
A stranger's smile as we pass on the street
A friend's text message saying hello
Captivated by the crescent moon in a starry sky
A blazing sunset over a summer ocean
The fog spilling into the valley over the coastal mountains
There's so much to love if one chooses to look
So much to be delighted by
All it takes is a willingness to see the possibilities in the world
-gws
A Love Letter for Those Who Love Me
Thank you all for being my angels
My bowling lane bumper guards
My Jiminy Crickets
My chorus of friends and family
Who say the things I have had so much trouble saying to myself
For constantly reminding me that the children and I
Demand, command, and deserve
To be held most valuable
For reminding me that no matter how terrible I feel about what I am doing
That there is a greater good that I must serve
That of the wellbeing of my family of three growing souls and one old, weary one
“I love you,” is hardly powerful enough
“I’m grateful,” is impotent in its ability to deliver the depth
Of what I feel for what you are doing for me and my children
You have filled the many holes in me with light and love and patience and grace
This journey hasn’t drowned me because you have pulled my head from beneath the water
Gently reminding me to breathe until I can remember how to float again
I know I wouldn’t be at this place
Walking forward one painful step at a time without all of you
Picking me up and cheering me on
-gws
Say the Thing, Make it Awkward
Say the thing Make it awkward For we never know when the final fickle Fate Will wield her scissors and snip a thread from our tapestry Forever severing a connection An action that cannot be undone "I love you." "I miss you." "I care about you." "You are important to me." "My life is better with you in it." Whatever the thing is you feel SAY IT And let it go Knowing that you have released love In some version Into the life of someone you care for in some way We are fortunate to have our lives Woven with many threads But as gently as we are entangled together The severing and unraveling are inevitable Sharp and severe We will have loss But we do not have to have regret Say the thing Make it awkward Only Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos See the grand weaving of our lives How each chapter of our lives will unfold And how and when those varied chapters will end Within those pages we are gifted with the opportunity of choice To give and receive love with the others in our story Say the thing Make it awkward -gws
A Love Poem
Your love has me floating Like a helium balloon Tethered to the ground By a heartstring Your love caresses my senses Like the sharp, clean freshness of pine Endlessly stretching heavenward toward the azure sky Crowned in misty clouds and enduring Your love has me believing in forever Like the love found in bedtime stories and fairy tales Two hearts forged into an infinity loop As twin souls merged will do -gws
One Night
One night The stars whispered your name They outlined your image in their sky And I fell -gws
He Loved Her Quietly
He loved her quietly Though his eyes shouted it to the stars -gws
Cellophane Love Notes
You will never love me the way I love you And that's ok Because loving you makes me brighter Loving you gives my words weight And my dreams color It's longing for you that I will avoid doing It's hoping that one day you will love me back That I cannot let my heart abide It's not that you do not care You care deeply Devotedly But it is not the same as love reciprocated And I cannot conflate the two Or I will drown in heartbreak of my own creation Instead I sit in the the patch of warm sunlight that is your affection Feeling content in being seen Being heard Being cared for In ways few others do I attach cellophane love notes to the walls of my beautiful prison Declaring "I love you!" in invisible ink that you will never see You will never love me the way I love you But you love me nonetheless in your own way And I will let that be enough - gws
Love Spells
Beware love spells. Beware the wanting. Beware the asking. You may get more than you bargained for. -gws
Ghosts
Driving down the roads of my past
I see your ghost everywhere
The halls where I met you
The neighborhood where you lived where we first kissed
The theater where we saw that awful movie on our first date
Years have passed
The place we both once called home is nearly unrecognizable now
So much has changed but the memories of you and me are still
Alive in the footprints of buildings and businesses long gone
Bringing a bittersweet smile to my face as I see muted-color memories
Of what we were and what we never became
We live different lives in different worlds
Practically strangers though still linked inextricably and inexplicably
By threads of fate we never were able to understand
But could only accept without question or comment
Permanent tattoos upon each other's hearts
Placed there by a power who knew that we needed each other once
And who seems to know that we need the memories of that connection as they were yesterday
I hope you see my ghost, too
She's waiting with a hug that has only ever been for you
And may our ghosts continue to share what we no longer do
In a time and place that no longer is
Except in faded photographs and our souls
-gws