Aveces, es necesario amar
 
you must do it,
even though bombs are falling
and the liberators are tormenting
their captors
whom they just liberated
from their tormentors.
 
you must do it in spite
of contrary evidence
and you must do it in spite of dishes
rituals, schedules and inflation
you must do it when you wake up
after bad dreams, after lighting candles
and hitting your knees,
 
after raising broken hands
to the exhaustion of the tired gray sky
you must do it without hesitation
or remorse,
but you must do it.
 
you have to do it while eating pancakes alone
you do it in the back of your mind reading the papers
you do it in spite of the headlines, the statistics
and the truth.
 
you do it despite a long history of loss and derision
you do it with bars chock full, parking lots
brimming with the screams of the lost
and battling
 
you do it from the sanctity of your forlorn bedroom
addled in vacant stares
you do it while destitute
the only thing
that seems
to sustain you.
 
I've done it in spite of myself
in spite of the odds
in spite of the house of cards
decked out and crashing
all around me.
I've done it,
since the moment
I laid eyes on you
and I've been doing
it ever
since.
 
sometimes, mi angel
a veces, mi prinessa
you have no choice but to love
someone
and for some time
now
I have loved
you
 
and maybe
one day
before I never see
you
again
 
I will tell
you all
about
it