The Dark Side Of Love Poem by Lynn W. Petty

There is a dark side of love,
Love that suffocates with
Twisting vines of petaled tendrils,
Twining round the one who's loved
Until he gasps for breath to breathe.

Where are the reasons that we love
The one we love?
The bold and reckless flights
Of youthful fancy,
The rebuke of dress decorum,
The revolt against the mold
Of social edicts and establishment,
And, all the other things combined
With which we fell in love?
Are these enwrapped
Beneath the vining weight
Of leafy love?

Love expands the heart,
Gives one space to reach.
Love energizes hope,
Extends one's dreams.
Love is freedom of the soul
To soar on winged imagination,
To attain one's own.
If love endeavors to restrain,
Remold, the character of the beloved,
Then love has lost its vital force.
It lies entombed
In thick entangled weaves
Of creeping domination
And control.