this is a love story

written in lines we don't cross

in damage deflected

a code of conduct

a social contract of caged impulses

and shared priorities ( demons )

A little me inside of you that says HEY

every time you make a decision

every time you consider the future

Love is a future

Spare the truth

spoil the man

tell the truth

ruin your relationship

Young love is a chemical 

( a compulsion )

old love is an institution

I bet myself who we would become

made an investment

put some of my happiness on a reserve price

banked and traded our time

Love is not a battlefield

it's a merger

it's a bear hug

a hostile takeover

because something in the brain

wants to breed

bloodlines and trend lines

( population decline )

it’s all going down