SOLITUDE

original by Kenyetta chinwe(Angela Y. Brown)

I wanted to post this during the Valentine's day season but I was experiencing technical difficulties with my Internet. So, for your consideration here is my take on loving, losing and self-love.

In the silence of my solace
I learn to love you
Not because you are perfect
Because you are you.

In the quiet of my contemplation
I learn to love myself
For who I am
Despite what I think I lack.

It has been said
That love is wasted on the young.
And the older I get
I find it to be true.

When I was 20
Love meant a pretty face, a beautiful smile
A halo of hearts dancing around our heads
And stars in our eyes.

Now all I expect of love
Is a gentle touch, an open heart
Words of respect
And honor

I guess I should thank you
For this solitude in which I abide
Without It I’d have waited to learn
That it’s okay to love you
But not more than I love me.

I’d have never realized
That by embracing my aloneness
I’d find the true beginning of love
And witness its birth inside of me.

And so I cling to the silence
For as long as it must last
I invite the quiet until it gives way to laughter
I enjoy the solitude as it guides me to love

And I love you still
In the midst of it all
Just not more than me