Love Without Hurt

Distance without hostility
Proximity without intimacy
Desire without lust
Celebration without envy.
It's a tangled web we weave indeed
How hard to iron it out
To keep the quirks
Without the kinks
That stick like barbs
From quoted bards.
Honor without duty
Humility without humiliation
Death without suffering
Love without hurt.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Like a rose without a thorn
Not in this life.
Love without hurt
Would be like history without tragedy
Adolescence without tears.
But without foolish hopes
We would not have fools
And we need fools
To have the laughter
That makes the healing.
Love is just a feeling
After all
You make love
You take love
You forget the pain.
Just not always
In this life.