– dedicated to the memory of Anjou MacPherson (1959 – 2012)
By Andrew John Harrison
L. O. V. E.
I often ponder what it is
where it comes from
why so many people long for it and yet deny themselves
I love people, places and yes even things
all will be lost to me, eventually
they grace my life for but a moment
No matter how brief the dance
it is still worth the effort
and the risk
Without risk, there can be no reward
and all good things come to an end
that is why they are so sweet
Life is short when you are in love
and ever so long when no love can be found
miserable is the person without love
How can one feel love, if one cannot feel anything?
and yet this is the choice so many makes
to live, comfortably numb
I say to hell with comfort
numb is one step from the grave
and we will all meet the grave soon enough
In embracing loss I am free
free to love. Free to lose
Resisting loss I am trapped
in a prison of my own making
a loss is a pathway to love
Love cannot be taken
it can only be freely given
and received
By exchanging love it spirals up
and up and up
more and more love to go around
This is the opposite of the Law of the Jungle
everything is scarce and should be acquired
and protected at all costs
dividing and sharing mean less for everyone
Oh, love is so different
the more you give, the more you share
the more there is to go around
more for me and more for you
Love without conditions is free
love with conditions is not love
it is something else altogether
Conditions are Jungle based control mechanisms
if one gives or withholds love with conditions
it is domination
they might love what they get from you
but they do not love YOU
True love comes from within
it comes from inside me
inside you
and begins with acceptance
for one cannot love what one cannot accept
In the presence of a person who loves themselves
I feel love
the words carry the feeling
and the feeling is there without the words
Self delusion, and a high-brow opinion of oneself
is not love
it is ego
and ego is fragile
Love is not fragile
and neither are you
Everything I do, say and express
says “I love you”
most people cannot feel it
because they do not love themselves
Learning to love starts at home
I’ll meet you on the edge of the Palisades
where the sky meets the horizon
and the mist rolls in from the sea
I will call you
and I will listen
to the murmur
and I love you too…
Leadership Advocate and Co-Founder of the Goldzone Group. I help leaders to master the new rules of leadership for the new economy. Over the past 30 years, I have visited more than 500 cities in 54 countries to explore, learn from, and help many of the world’s leading companies, leaders, and luminaries in science, technology, health, finance, and entrepreneurship.