"Love will solve all your problems, Love will only let you down."

my thoughts constantly revolve around love and relationships and my future since I returned from Japan. I believe that I am absolutely in love with the man that I am dating right now, yet at the same time I still can't help but feel restless and unsure about our future together.
i am so confused about love and our relationship and I am constantly searching for words to help me make sense of it all.
one poet I turn to for inspiration when I am feeling lost in life is Khalil Gibran. He's definitely in my circle (more about my circle in a later blog). Here is his poem on love...

Love

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them.

And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."

And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

I love Khalil Gibran because his poetry feels balanced to me. He does not just focus on one aspect of an emotion, he always looks at both sides. I love that he exposes the good and the bad about an emotion. I hate it when people look at things with only rose colored glasses and I also can't stand it when people are complete pessimists. I like that Gibran finds the beauty in the entirety of an emotion.

These are my favorite lines:

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

I can completely relate since I have been in my relationship with Joe, and probably my first relationship where I truly feel I have been in love. Being in love with Joe has been one of the most wonderful and full experiences I have had in my life so far. It has also been something that has really forced me to begin examining what it is I want out of life.

I hope you enjoyed the poem and I hope you are inspired to check out more of Gibran's work...he rocks!