And Let Me See Your Circumstances Poem by Lonnie Hicks

She said
'How will I know that I love him'
and she said 'you'll know at the time.'

'What time will that be
and why does Time have to be
the decider of my love needs? '

'When your body is ready
and the time is right-
and the person is right-
you will know
and you will be ready for love.'

'So' she said 'love is circumstance? '
'In some ways.'

'But if circumstance is what is required
what about me? she said.

My dear.I said, 'Romeo and Juliet fell in love in a bad
circumstance and all died in the end.

So circumstances matter.'

But I think love is irresistible
outside rationality.
Love is Ultimate Mystery.' she said.

'Only in the young.' she said
'As we mature
especially near 30
love becomes mostly circumstance
and moved mostly by rationality.'

'So are you saying maturity dictates
that we choose from among partners
available then
and is more decision than
true love's mystery.? '

Ah what I am saying
is that while young we choose
from mystery
and after the divorce
we are more governed by circumstance.

And choosing in weighing circumstance
is the height of rationality
and the opposite of mystery.'

'Ah' she said 'then in the end
all you are offering me is hard truth
and circumstance? '
'
No, I am saying love
is first wasted on the young
who cannot afford Love's Circumstances
and Love in later years
is given only to Youth's Survivors who
fight their way through
and beyond circumstance.

That is the real definition of maturity.

True Love survives Circumstances
and does not become
its victim.

'Oh, ' she said.
That too
is a hard truth.