WARNING

I will love you with a child’s heart.

Full of trust – openly, wholly, unwilling to share, with gifts of crayoned art.

I will love you with the heart of a teen.

Full of idealism – temperamentally, jealously, with your name written over and over on my possessions.

I will love you with a mother’s heart.

Full to overflowing – patiently, proudly, with open arms, bandaids, and cookies still warm from the oven.

I will love you with the heart of a soldier.

Full of honor – diligently, protectively, always on guard and at attention.

I will love you with a thief’s heart.

Full of greed – stealthily, quietly, stuffing my pockets with your treasures.

I will love you with the heart of a coward.

Full of fear – diffidently, cravenly, my belly scraping the ground as I plead for mercy.

I will love you with a fiery heart.

Full of heat – passionately, dangerously, offering you heat and destruction.

I will love you with the heart of an artist.

Full of vision – colorfully, boldly, creating monuments to your beauty.

I will love you with a human’s heart.

Full of caprice – unsteadily, undeservingly, with feet of clay and Achilles’ heel.

I will love you with all my heart.

All my flawed, bleeding, feeble heart.

(May 2014)
*’undeservingly’ fit better somehow than ‘undeservedly’ (even though it’s not a real word). It’s poetry; I make my own words.