Love and Lust

Love is an ancient art –
A forgotten antiquity endangered
And on the verge of extinction.

We’ve traded real commitment
For one night stands.
A lifetime friend and partner
For someone willing to let us use them
To satisfy our demands.

Love has become a carnival of lust,
Where feelings control our loyalty,
And we go frolicking through the night
Hopping from ride to ride.

A superstore for selfish desires,
Where we walk down the aisles filling our carts
And shop assured that all products
Can be returned whenever they lose their usefulness.

The media sells love as a stormy passion,
Whipping around the mystery guy or girl,
Where it’s ok to discover their body
Before their heart, yet we weep
And ask, “why me?” when we’re abandoned.

And it’s not fair that you
Should have to control your sexual longing.
One time’s not going to hurt anyone
And you deserve this

Until you have to explain
To your young child why Mommy and Daddy
Aren’t going to be living happily ever after anymore
Because he couldn’t keep it in his pants
Or she couldn’t keep her legs closed.

Our disposable culture
Has trickled down to our relationships,
Ready to upgrade our contracts
Whenever our current one isn’t meeting our needs.

“Until Death Do Us Part”
Has become “Until I Find Someone Better”
or “Until You Lose Your Usefulness”.

We look for love in porn flicks
And under the cover of steamy erotic novels
And get just what we seek out –
A chaotic compilation of broken hearts,
Broken promises, single mothers, and broken families.

The media’s selling it,
And we’re buying
Because our lives are so void of meaning
That we’re willing to do anything to feel again.

We’ve realized expensive toys won’t buy happiness,
But rather than investigating the truth,
We turn our fragile hearts to fantasy,
Thinking it can fill the gaping hole in our hearts
That won’t stop letting in the pain.

Love is not a Velcro strip
You attach when feelings are running high,
Ready to rip it free
The second those feelings die.

It’s a cement bond
That you choose to be molded in,
Cast enclosed with your lover
Through thick and thin,

When seas are calm,
And when the waves crash and roll.
When two people’s lives are stable
And when life leaves you out of control.

Love is not the pretty beauty queen
That you wanted to show off at prom,
But the one you want by your side
When you go to war,
Trusting your life and care in their arms.

The biggest lie is believing
That when we find “the One”
The feelings will never fade.

Feelings are fleeting.
They rise and fall like the sun in the sky.
Love is an act of putting another first –
A surrendering of pride.

But we’ve forgotten how to be servants
And only desire to be served.
We want to be loved,
But don’t want to love.

Because to love means that you’re ok
With being vulnerable.
You place your heart in someone’s hands
And you do your part regardless if they do theirs.

Culture calls that weak,
That we must never open ourselves to pain,
Which is why it’s filled with pessimists,
Safe, caged, and constantly feeling a longing
For something outside of their grasp and understanding.

And it’s the reason they sell lust and not love,
Because love is too scary and real for them,
Because true love is not about fulfilling selfish desires,
But selflessly fulfilling and serving another.

The foundation of love is servanthood.
Unless you lay down the cornerstone,
You’re going to be living under one shaky roof.

– Poem Written by Justin Farley

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Photo Credit: @yakobusan Jakob Montrasio 孟亚柯 via Compfight cc