The closest I'll ever get to writing a love poem

To all those who have never fallen in love.

Never tripped over your own soul to be swallowed by another's.

For all the people that have contrived meetings,

set forth guidelines to follow safely into planned monogamy.

For those who think they have fallen but never had to sacrifice for it.

How I envy their balance, and control of themselves.

To never have been thrust into choosing to be true to yourself at the expense of every expectation you ever had for your life.

For those that didn't have to start over.

That found someone convenient enough just to fit right in,

then call them soulmate since they happened to be there.

How lucky they are to not have to sacrifice for that comfort, yet...

They will never know the fall.

The not just unintentional but unwanted and undeniable force with which one tumbles down.

Never to be the same, never the person you intended to be,

but person your life and love have made you become.

To have the price of love be the opposite of comfort and stability but still pay the toll.

Feeling foolish and not caring, knowing everything will now be different forever.

Accepting a life you never had the colors to paint even in your wildest dreams.

Feeling yourself to your core knowing that to deny what you now know would be a sin against your own soul.

Knowing that your only gain will be sacrifice and having another's mere touch be worth all that.

To melt into a gaze and have mutual knowledge pass silently between you.

To find your other half.

Life is not about safety and there is no prize for arriving untested at heaven's gate.

Many will arrive in just such a fashion sure of their choices and that is fine but...

Do not tell me of love, commitment, compromise and sacrifice.

I do not want to hear your talk of soulmates, true love and love at first sight.

Like hearing the rich talk of poverty or the civilian tell a solider about war.

You don't know.

You have constructed a life where you never will,

and called it whole without knowing the half of it.

The love I know comes from a place of struggle,

of darkness moving toward light.

It is not made of rainbows and unicorns.

It is forged in blood and tears.

True love is worth all the pain the world has to offer.

This is not strife between the lovers but the strife of love against the world.

To be united against the worst of what life can be and stay whole because you are together.

That is what it means for me to fall in love, to be in love.

To all those who have never fallen into it.

Never had to sacrifice for it.

I am thankful you have love in your life.

I truly wish you nothing but the best,

but don't tell me what it's like to fall in love with both your feet planted safely on the ground.