Love Without Illusion

By: Nathan Fletcher

I have seen the tower of ego rise,

built on air,

clothed in shadows,

reaching for a throne that does not exist.

Yet I will not feed a mask and call it a face.

I will not kneel to shadows and call it light.

I will not surrender truth for the comfort of pretense.

For love is not indulgence,

nor does it bow to illusions.

Love is steady as stone,

unyielding as the mountain,

patient as the sea.

I will love the soul beneath the armor,

the child hidden behind the boast.

But I will not serve the façade.

I will not flatter what is hollow.

I will stand, unshaken.

And when the balloon breaks,

when the tower falls,

when the noise is silenced,

truth will remain,

and love will still be there...

quiet,

grounded,

real.