Control may make you feel safe and secure

but where trust and respect is minimal

and you shun what makes you vulnerable,

a rift will result from smallest fissure.

It is not love that leaves another fraught.

Love strives not to dominate but to free,

hand over keys to trampled detainee,

unbind the fetters that circumstance wrought.

What is love? Perhaps better to question

what love is not; it is not bigoted,

it allows space for self-discovery,

scorns possessing and manipulation,

ever struggles to achieve the opposite,

yet strives nevertheless, and willingly.