Rationing Love

My love grows in a mindfully cultivated garden
Raised to be shared with a small selection
As nutritious ingredients
For their wholesome efforts

When we carefully choose who will receive a portion
Of that mass of us we can spare for sharing
We can carve more from our chest
Fuelling them with that flesh
To increase their power

We must be discerning with
How we distribute ourselves
After all, it’s neither sustainable
To feed strength to those
Who would not do so unto you
Nor safe to empower those
Who may creep in your shadow
Waiting for their opportunity
No matter how delicious and soft
They rest on our tongue

Walking away, turning a blind eye
Dismissing tiny gnats flying
From ineffective mouths bearing no significance
Frees us to fight alongside those who matter
Marching with them
From battlefields into kitchens

There’s warm satisfaction to be found
When our allies need our hands
So we loan them freely
Without obligation
To the carefully selected few
Deserving and free from expectation
So when I run out of cares
Rest assured they’ll be replenished
Shared with me by those precious few
Feeding me as I fed, and will again, feed them

I’ll receive as great blessings
Water from their deep wells to quench my thirst
Meat from their verbose tongues to sate my hunger
Sugar from their happy lips to tame my wild rage
Spices from their focused eyes to enrich my being
All cooked in hugs rich with their body heat
To soothe my wayward mind

This is the way
We’re nurtured more than drained

This is the way
We become no more fragmented
But instead more whole

This is the way
So long as those I love stand at my side
And I stand at theirs, hands intertwined
In these warm kitchens
None of us shall ever starve

November 30, 2024