Why Is Love So Hard And Deep Poem by James McLain

Why Is Love So Hard and Deep

My Dearest,

Why is love so hard, so deep, like the sea with its unceasing tides that pull and sway against the shore? We enter it, so sure, so eager, yet we forget the way it transforms us, shapes us, and sometimes leaves us stranded on unfamiliar beaches.

Love asks more of us than we first imagine. It is not the gentle touch of sun on our skin as we lay together on a soft beach towel, basking in the warmth of each other. No, love is the wave that crashes, relentless, against our hearts. It carves out pieces of us, unrelenting, until we are something new. And oh, how it stirs the deep places within—places we never knew existed until we find ourselves caught in the undertow.

The heart seeks safety, but love, too often, feels like the tide at night—wild, unseen, and unpredictable. Yet, even in that wildness, there are moments when we find a place to rest, a small patch of sand where we lay down our fears. Is it not in those moments, beneath the vast sky, where we feel most alive?

And yet, love is hard because it asks us to give, to open wide those vulnerable spaces we wish to hide. We long for a place where we can be safe, where the world outside cannot touch us, where we can lay beside each other, hands entwined, on that old beach towel, and forget the storms that rage beyond the horizon. But love teaches us that safety is not found in stillness or retreat. It is found in trusting another to weather the storm with us.

Still, the depths of love are not just filled with struggle. There is sweetness there too, a kind of peace that settles like the moonlight on calm water. When we lean into the weight of love—when we surrender to its depth—it becomes our sanctuary, our harbor. It is then that we find the safety we seek, not in walls or distance, but in the quiet understanding that, no matter how hard the tide pulls, we will return to each other, always.

I suppose love is hard because it must be. For if it were easy, if it asked nothing of us, then how could it ever touch the deepest parts of our souls? How could it ever carry us to the farthest shores, where we discover who we truly are?

So, though the waves may seem endless and the journey long, we must continue. Together, we'll find that place to lay our beach towels, that place where love is both hard and deep—and utterly worth it.

With all the love the sea holds
James