A Post-Valentine’s Day Meditation on Love

Love is imperfect.
It can sometimes be impatient, disappointed, and frustrated.
It may be dissatisfied—want more.
Too often it puts its own needs first,
And fails to see the needs of the beloved.

Love goes on trying, though.
It stays in the mess—
Believes things will change,
Or that it will change.
It recognizes its own suffering,
And so, realizes the beloved is suffering too.

Love does the best it can and 
Accepts with gratitude
The best the beloved has to offer,
Even when that best doesn’t satisfy the 
Mysterious longing inside.
It knows the longing is impossible to fill.

Love doesn’t dwell on desiring more.
It dwells on gratitude for what is.
It sees its own imperfection,
As well as that of the beloved,
And it feels compassion and
Tenderness for both.

Love doesn’t give up.
It doesn’t pretend to know
What the future holds,
Or how it will feel tomorrow.
It focuses on now,
Is self-aware,
Open, and vulnerable.

Love accepts whatever comes,
Holds it lightly,
And lets it go when time moves on.
It sees the good and praises;
Sees the flaws, 
And keeps silent.

Love often fails to understand.
Still, it keeps on seeking.
It accepts that it may never comprehend—
There's so much it can never know.

Love disappoints its noble
Aspirations,
Acknowledges its limitations,
But forgives itself,
And begins anew.

Love fails,
Over and over 
And over again,
But Love
Never ends.

6 thoughts on “A Post-Valentine’s Day Meditation on Love

  1. A powerful, poignant meditation, Moriah. This stanza is one I read over and over:

    Love doesn’t dwell on desiring more.
    It dwells on gratitude for what is.
    It sees its own imperfection,
    As well as that of the beloved,
    And it feels compassion and
    Tenderness for both.

    Thank you…and sending love to you and SF.

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  2. Dear Moriah,

    Thank you for this meditation.

    I think the problem is that we don’t know how to love. Where there is any ego there can be no love except love of self, namely small s.

    What you describe is the struggles of the ego – and they will continue as long as there is an ego.

    The ego hangs in because of its needs – not to be alone, to be liked, to say it has a lover/partner whatever… the whole shebang.

    So, how to transcend the ego? That is the eternal question.
    If we could – Then love is patient, love is kind, love is it is not self-seeking, etc…

    Regards,
    Annabel Beerel

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