For You

I love you.

Not because of the way you do things or don't do things.

Not because I want to get or take anything from you.

Not because I need to control you or wish to change you.

Not because you give me something I can't get elsewhere.

Not because I'd die without you, or fall apart if we never cross paths again.

Not because you're perfect, and yet you are...perfectly you in every way.

I love you

Because I see you.

I recognize you.

I value who you are in both the goods and the uglies.

I feel your struggle and identify with it.

Maybe you make me laugh, make me smile, entertain me.

Maybe you break my heart, pull me to pieces, shatter my world.

Maybe you sit beside me, talking or listening as we share time and space. 

Maybe we hang out and fill the night air with levity and elation.

Maybe you reach for me when you are in tears.

Maybe we go on adventures or walks or do things only you and I can or will.

Maybe the only time we share is in passing now and then with a smile and spark of recognition.

I love you.

Because you fill me. 

You complete me. 

You bring me wholeness.

You connect me to the fabric of humanity and the experiences of this reality.

You give me something that only you can, it's unique quality a treasured gift.

I love you.

Because for so long I couldn't. 

I didn't know how.

I didn't know what it was or meant.

It hurt too much, I hurt too much.

I didn't want to because hate and anger was so much simpler.

I love you.

Because I can.

Because loving is freedom, and flows in a most natural way from the very wells of all that creates life.

And life....life is only that much richer, grander, fantastically beautiful, when observed through eyes of love.