what’s love got to do with it

What’s love got to do with it

When fires and floods, cyclones and ice destroy what we have planted for the future, tell me, what’s love got to do with it.

Everything, love says. Everything. When your neighbor shows up with food, warm blankets, with toys for the children offering comfort and no need to talk, I’m here, says love. Take heart.

What’s love got to do with reading the news the news the news the endless cycle of war and destruction. When you are an exile in a new land, longing for the home where the bones of your ancestors lie, unmarked, under rubble, the mother tongue lost on the wind, when your way back is lit by flame and ash, let a friend lead you out into the world of cloud and rain, grass and flower. Let the pulse of the earth on your bare feet become the beat of your mother’s heart, the home you can always return to.

What’s love got to do with it when harsh words rip lovers apart, when stones fall heavy from their lips and split the bed in two. I’m here, love says softly. When wounds from times long gone are still hard to speak of, I’m here, struggling to be heard in the midst of the roar of anger, the silence of grief. When two who yearn to join in love meet on the battlefield and lay down their swords, this is where I release the sweet scent of forgiveness.

What’s love got to do with loss after loss after loss, hope withering in the shadows. When trans queer the stranger the outspoken hide in fear, when they disappear, know that the rage you feel springs from the same waters as your love. And when you speak out against injustice, it is the voice of love on fire. And the sanctuary you offer inside your own broken heart is the holy communion that binds us to each other. Know that when we add our light to the new beginning that is breaking now and now and now over the horizon, love has everything to do with why we are here. _________________________________________________________________

Read more stories like this in my book The Ripening: Essays on Love, Loss, Marriage and Aging available on Amazon.