Love is an airborne disease. Once it escapes my lips people go running.

They run and they don't look back

until they are lonely.

When they have nowhere else to turn

they come back as a last resort.

Love is a mystery

The people we think love each other

divorce

fight

punch

rape

abuse each other in the name of love.

So how do I know what it is

really?

How do I know when it's real?

Every time so far I've been wrong.

Been left empty, wet

with tears,

crumpled.

It happened so many

times that I begin to wonder if it's my fault.

what's wrong with me?

what did I do?

am I not right?

It wasn't me. It was you.

You made me feel special.

You made me feel like you really

loved me.

Like the fire between us

would burn

forever.

But while you pretended to

tend and kindle the fire,

you were really putting it out.

You were lighting other fires

tending them

comforting them

making sure they didn't go out.

Once "love" escapes my lips, people go running.

And they don't come back.

And though I know it's not true

I blame myself.

For believing in love in the first place.