I Love You

your very soul

sourced via Pinterest

I Love You

, but only if you do 
what I tell you to do. 

I love you,

but only if you become 
the instrument of my desire,

of my fears and my angst,
of my unwashed sorrows
and unaired shames. 

I love you — 
Of course I love you —

I washed your face
and bought you clean clothes 
and fed you when you were hungry. 

I love you.

but only if you
offer up your very soul 
as pyre to calm my nerves.

But mama, but papa, 
I say, trembling,
didn’t you hear 
what Mumford & Sons said?

They said, Love: 
it will not betray me, 
dismay or enslave me,
it will set me free. 

Mama, don’t you want that kind of love?
Papa, look at me, 
answer me.