Beyond Illusions

A poem that looks beyond illusions of a superficial love to find a meaningful connection.

Do you love me?

I mean, do you really?

Not the peaceful affection that lulls to sleep,

Not the cupid-struck kind that says we are destined,

Fairytales made by men who never knew the ache of being truly loved.

You say you like me as I am, but it feels like sweet words to pull me close.

Would you still stay, if you knew all that I hide?

Tell me what you see in me that makes you want to chase me,

So I can weigh if it's worth it.

I am a woman of values and cultural wisdom, please spare me the lies wrapped in tenderness.

Do you love me?

I mean, do you really?

Not the respectful, steady kind that keeps your feet on the ground,

Not bouquets of roses kind that renders you blind,

Those fables fill your head, but in the end, we remain strangers.

Tell me,

Do you crave me in your soul, feel me burning in your blood?

Or am I just a season that will pass once I turn the other side?

I do not want a love that drains and fades like smoke;

I need a love that consumes, like the poetry I pour from my heart.

I do not seek an illusion of perfection, nor to be a puppet in your perfect world.

If you loved me, truly, you wouldn’t be caught in the surface of my skin,

Or the marks it carries.

You’d see me---flawed, complex, a soul beyond this body.

Landra.G.Mutoni