To love is not to love too much to love
is not to reach for more than what you hold,
is not to dream the dream they’re dreaming of,
is not to tell the tale or leave untold
the tale, is not to kiss or leave unkissed,
is not to be as dark as summer sun,
or light as moonless night enshrouded mist,
is not to do the thing or leave undone
the thing that love engenders in the flower,
a death wish sealed within the wintry frost,
meas’ring dusty lifetimes by the hour,
yet lingering not for lonely lifetimes lost,
for wisest of them all knows well that love
is more than love when it is less than love.