I was always meant to fall in love
with self-discovery
and whatever facilitated
my way to that
but so often I mistook criticism
and manipulation
and attempted amputation
for the catalyst I had sought
so that in that way
the love that never was
is the only one that is
for revealing the secret heart
I birthed
for loving my own heart
and isn’t that exactly
what the masters
of the ancient world
wished that we would know of love
when they named the card of us