(2004) If Only Poem by Deana Rode

If only Love were an exaggeration:
a fantasy that solely exists in the minds of fools,
or a nightmare that just the damned must dream..

If only Love were a dramatization:
a play that disappears once its curtain drops,
or a book children read before they go to bed..

If only Love were a punishment:
a torture that the simplest are forced to endure,
or a death sentence given to the weakest of man..

Maybe then I would be able to live:
to wake up each day without tears,
or lay down each night without emptiness.