Justifying Love

It is when the grain

Falls short of silken appetite

Revealing ungainly bugs 

That I justify love.

It is when the dust settles

After months of yellowing my glass

Showing cracking walls

That I justify love. 

It is when the neighbour's car

Honks through my silly being

Upsetting the just-eaten meal

That I justify love. 

I justify love when my purse swells

With edges frayed by wrong journeys

Refusing to give up on me.

I justify love when the tap drips

In time with a beating heart

That beds with a zillion people and things.

Justifying love is a need. A roadmap drawn from other needs. A need that, on a good day, shows clouds heavy with possibility. And when it rains, the justifications can wait. For some time before the clouds gather again.