When I Give You My Heart

When I Give You My Heart… The love I give to you dear one, Is love I know belongs to me, To think that it is yours alone Is adolescent fantasy. For if this love weren’t really mine How could it then be mine to give? If heart is always True Love’s home, Without a heart how could I live? It may not bring you comfort love And you may never feel secure, But dreams my heart is only yours, Reveal a heart that’s immature. For you to tell me that’s your gift, Suggests that you’re naïve at best, For even if you think it’s true, The emperor is still undressed!* At least most men aren’t made that way, Our futures never are for sure. And pleasures taken while we can While praying there might be a cure. A sick child cause our love to end, Even our jobs drive us apart, Though no one plans on stuff like this, It spells disaster for the heart. A partner that decides they’re gay, Somehow an accidental death, The day your spouse does not come home, The world can take away your breath. So when I ‘just’ give you my love Please check your heart to know it’s true And realize that lover’s chose, It’s really all that one can do. A witches spell, a chain of fire Cannot restrain decay to dust, A lifetime all we have to live, Where good days start with hope and trust. Brian Johnston August 29, 2014 Poet's Notes: * ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ – A tale by Hans Christian Anderson about two weavers who promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes that is invisible to those unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. When the Emperor parades before his subjects in his new clothes, a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" The tale has been translated into over a hundred languages. From ‘Wikipedia.' Few go into a relationship with the expectation of love not lasting a lifetime, and yet we all know our relationship too will end, sooner or later, hopefully the latter. The time spent may be quality time or more of a learning experience, usually a mixture of both. But nothing can totally prepare us for the future except to be honest with ourselves and to admit, we are not really in control. That understanding can make things easier for those able to embrace it. Failure may always be failure, but being able and willing to forgive, to love yourself too, is the only path to future happiness in my experience.