Thirteen Ways to Love Well

 

1. Between the words spoken and the words held back, kept in a place of shadows and secrets.
2. In parking lots and indrawn breaths, after hello and just before goodbye.
3. Soft-spoken promises and late night phone calls, whispers that travel beyond the moment, lodging themselves underneath ribs, stealing into blood and bone.
4. From moment-to-moment, without looking back or forward, grasping the thorned rose without hesitation.
5. Honestly.
6. Through kisses and imagination, where one cannot exist without the other. The only instance of frailty is fear, cowardice, and holding back.
7. On a street corner, wearing yesterday’s lipstick and a smile.
8. With words that cling to action, like the wind clings to the leaves on trees. Some may fall, but the touch remains the same.
9. Without any words at all. Draw the curtains. Shut the phone. Revel in the silence.
10. Lingering between absence and presence, hope hinting around corners, a vague silhouette that offers change. There are no assurances.
11. With perfect trust, divorced from doubt. This is red lipstick, coffee cups, and dancing in the street at three am.
12. Eyes closed, hands out.
13. Fully, with your whole heart. No questions asked. No expectations, except to love.