When love is just a verb

When love is just a verb

And lust is just hormones

Then all that’s left to contend with

Is pride

And that’s easily managed if you keep your ego

Healthy and strong

By surrounding yourself with good people

And giving love freely

And never letting fear

Stop you from speaking up

And making your needs known

Because we all deserve to have our questions answered

And our egos stroked

And our foreheads kissed

And we all deserve to look in the mirror

And like what we see

And if we don’t

It’s never the parents’ fault

We must stop and ask

“How can I become someone I like?”

And then we must dream and dare and act

Because when love is a doing word

You have to practice it

Because it is a skill

Just as an athlete trains her body so it can run fast

A good woman must educate her heart so it can love well

So she can be open

And brave

And loyal

And vulnerable

And just as one feels the pain and runs hard anyway

The good woman feels the fear and loves hard anyway

Because her own heart is her haven

And a bruised ego heals fast

When lust is just hormones
When love is just a verb.