As a man, it is your choice to be
as generous and kind and giving
as you wish..
However,
no woman is ever obliged
to serve her truest love to you,
for all these virtues,
on a silver dish.
You can show her all the love
that she deserves..
and give her love
that’s pure and innocent
and true.
But there will never be
a guarantee..
that in return she’ll choose
to share her love with you.

The cost of loving truly,
with all your heart..
lies in becoming vulnerable..
to having it repeatedly
regarded as unwanted..
or even viciously torn apart.
To take upon yourself the duty
of not allowing that to harden you..
Of not allowing that rejection
to define you.. to prevent you
from bestowing truest love
upon another woman
yet again.
It is a truth that only men
who bear the mark
of many painful scars
upon their myocardium
will understand.

All of the scars upon my own
I carry proudly and with dignity..
never with malice, hatred, or regret.
I still believe there is a woman out there
who will not make her mark and leave,
but rather mend..
her own heart first
while gracefully receiving
all my loving overflows.
And only then,
to heal in me as well,
with all her giving love,
what others overlooked or broke.
I will not ever count upon a woman
to make me whole.
Only to be the one who gives
upon myself..
as I have given unto others
many times before.

I shall bestow upon her
all my truest love as well..
whether and when
I ever meet her..
only All-father titan Kronos,
known to us as “time”,
can tell.