An Attempt to Understand Love by Anna Snedden

Behold her:
A woman, getting older 
Growing bolder
Instead of colder
With two strong shoulders 
Beneath a head swirling with things I told her:
That being alone and being sober
Turn you into a female soldier
The first to admit 
her needs don’t include a man to fit her
For the sister glitters without a mister
Wants no other to need or complete her
Her independence is transcendence
And no one person’s entrance could possibly end it

Or so I told her

Then one day
She swayed
Because her knees were weaker
The days tasted sweeter
And as if it had been eager to meet her -
Love greeted her

And in just a moment
Her heart burst wide open 
She found that it had her feeling
Like someone peeling back the covers
Who then discovers
That the world has secret colors
And she was just now able to see them

Now, behold her:
A woman, growing younger
Filled with a new and lovely hunger
That will make her fight through rain and thunder
To simply watch her lover slumber

They say that age is just a number
And if that’s true
Then growing up
Is merely showing up
To the possibility 
Of falling, headfirst, into opportunity
And perhaps maturity 
Is understanding life will treat you brutally
And just as often beautifully
To lean into that lunacy
Is to be behaving humanly
Maybe love is that confusing dichotomy?

So behold her: 
A woman, timeless, on the rise. 
A belly full of butterflies
A heart of easy compromise
Sunrise dawning in his eyes
Moonlight resting on their thighs
She needs him, but she needs him not 
Love simply isn’t what I thought -
Truly a better endeavor 
Than I was ever taught.

So I did not plan it
And I may not understand it
But by god
I now demand it

Author
We hope you enjoyed this beautiful piece written by Anna Snedden.