Lonely Hearts Chapel

I Know Why People Love

I know why people love,
it’s the same reason
they get dressed
or turn doorknobs.

It’s the knowledge
of something larger than oneself
in another world or room,
and it’s that first-bite curiosity
to understand it
by being understood
as part of it.

This is why people feel
the need to love,
this biting knowing wanting.
But most will live and die
in this desire, trapped:
between their front door
and the kingdom of god,
between the needing of love
and the realizing of love.

Because it’s never enough

to hope you look lovely

and open the door;

you must accept

all you find there,

not wish it was more.

The “kingdom of god” mentioned above is meant as a nominal, nonreligious evocation of the (albeit scriptural) idea that “the kingdom of god is within you.” The lack of capitalization shows that this idea is not specific to one religion; instead, it denotes the truth that spiritual Oneness exists inside each and every one of us, and we come to know it more intimately by embracing the world and setting a loving example.

Love always,

your Mister