Levels to Love

I've had that ludus love

Haven't we all?

Games to be played

Fun to be had

Oh, how our hearts were young then

Flirting with the future

Teasing one another with promises we didn't realize were empty

With the eyes of a child my heart looked upon what could be

Slow, then quickly, turning into what could have been

Now able to see I never truly wanted it

So it became

Digging ourselves into the deep hole of philia

Neither one of us having the courage or strength to climb out of

Battling, not against each other, but side by side

Against the things and the ones that came upon us

You protected me, I protected you

The hole became deeper and deeper

Soon it was a comfort to us both

Emotions and hearts bandaged and swaddled

Surrounded by the chilling cold the world brought with it

Together, though, we grew warmer still

And so we stayed

Never to move from the cavity of loyalty we placed ourselves in

Eros was our sanctuary

With passion we worshipped there daily

Is it possible, with philia, we could have turned? No

For the possession had already taken hold

Your desire for my body and the excitement it gave you

My desire for being wanted

Perhaps that is what burned us

Irrational? We were

For even in knowing, we jumped

All too eager, into that fiery furnace

We fought it only for a second

When you ponder on the eternity of what it is

Sacrificing it, ourselves, for fleeting moments of pleasure

We caught fire, roaring loudly

Then died away in silence

Storge has laid many foundations

That's where it all starts, isn't it?

Fortified in some places, feeble, at best, in others

Where the ties were homogenous, I thrived

Thus sealing my thoughts on what it is

But the heterogenous ties...

Gradually, over the years, were being cut into with the dullest of knives

To clean the wound would mean to deal with the pain

Infecting the best parts of who I was

Cocooning my heart and mind so no more bad could get in

Understanding that in shutting out the bad I in turn shut out the good

I was resilient though, yes, I was

And in my process of healing you came

Revealing that heterogenous storge, can possibly...

Maybe, be extraordinarily different than what I knew it to be

Showing the future to be strangely optimistic

I didn't want to be aloof to pragma

To avoid it at all costs, but in my heart of hearts

Until the need for it would consume me

This is how it is these days

Running the race that is life

Thinking it to be a sprint when truly

It is a marathon

Each stride filled with patience and tolerance

Moving, thinking, becoming one

In two separate beings, you and I

But also never losing sight of who we are as individuals

In time we can only hope that we enter deeply into the understanding of one another

Until our lives have ran their course

Then, and only then, it will be worth every step

Agape

In its purest, highest form

One has perfected it

And then gave it as a gift

Not expecting anything in return

To achieve the same

To love so unconditionally

Would be to deny parts of myself that for some reason I hold so near and dear

To live a life of selflessness and humility

I would exhaust myself just by trying

But isn't that what it is all about?

That love that encompasses all

Good and Bad

Through the trials of life the one thing that keeps it all going

Is the One thing that started it all