Love Without Anesthesia

loving in these stormy times

is an act of defiance

not the pretty kind

not the candle-and-quote kind

it’s loving with the windows rattling

with the news screaming

with the barometer dropping fast

it’s choosing tenderness

while the sky practices violence

loving now means

you will be called foolish

or weak

or irresponsible

it means you will be asked

to harden

to pick a side sharp enough

to draw blood

and you will refuse

you will love anyway

with eyes open

with no illusions

with your feet planted in the flood

this love has teeth

it is not naïve

it knows exactly what it’s up against

it loves in a helmet

it loves without anesthesia

it loves knowing it may not be rewarded

loving in these times

is not softness

it is resistance

it is memory

it is saying:

you don’t get to turn me into stone

while the storm rages

i choose to remain human