If You Truly Want to Love

If you truly want to love
then you must first go through
the motions of love.

You must see the weather in the distance
and spend summer’s nights
in the barn, gathering hay while others slumber.

You must pick wisely, for inner beauty,
and return again
and again
until it feels like home.

You must stagger out in the rain,
huddled in your coat, bracing yourself
against the wind—

and eventually learn
to dress for the weather.

And when you have done all this,
you return home to a comfortable chair,
and appreciate the coming home—

and rest in the gentle peace it brings.