The Love Bleed, originally titled Love in Context, has been published in All of Me Vol. II, courtesy of Shadow Spark Publishing. Featured art is by Aelise Davis.

Listen to The Love Bleed by Richard Charles Stevens (Not Alone Suite)

Listen to I’m Not Alone by Calvin Harris

what is love
really
does it scream out loud
can it stand out proud
disavow the belief that it’s damned and prevail
does behind each kiss exist a story to tell
or is this remiss and sink ships when lips swell
can it steer to great heights
stratospheres from plain sight
set aside landing gear and take flight
are we looking
not buying
thus disqualifying
the chance to hold something
undying
once we cease leaping
will fears start to creep in
our dear hearts depart from safekeeping
.
on your marks
get set
once more with feeling
(feel it)
.
love supplies a timely high to all five active senses
love can go the distance
even farther when extended
love is what we make it
not so only when we fake it
love’s cool breeze is all we need to rise from fallen autumn leaves
if only we climb tallest tree and shake it
(feel it)
then all we see can be divine and sacred
(feel it)
.
love can open up our eyes to other places spaces times
love is sweet when vulnerable and sweeter still bared naked
love can heal a heart in half the time that hate can break it
love reveals no part in crimes frustrated through blind hatred
love needs not a counterpart
to bid decline to downward arc
its art defines real lives not imitated
(feel it)
.
love retrains our brains to entertain each dream and chase it
love gives same old scenery a greatly needed face lift
love proceeds upstandingly when ceasing to forsake it
given open-handedly there’s no real need to take it
love can make a point and promptly prove it
(prove it)
love can take an aching joint and soothe it
(soothe it)
love is medication
doubles up as a first aid kit
true love is so much better than the movies
(prove it)
(soothe it)
.
should not come and go just as it chooses
(prove it)
for when love snoozes
everybody loses
(prove it)
.
should not come and go just as it chooses
(prove it)
for when love snoozes
everybody loses
(soothe it)
.
love invests in wealth of stealth potential
love begets itself when seen as healthy and essential
is all we need for bleeds to lead to some place providential
love can be believed when we trace etchings in the tree with changeless stencil
.
nothing tetchy
that’s just sketchy
love can be some way more fetching
love can leave a deep impression
need not preach to teach a lesson
love will lead the line to most divine of interventions
find a way to outstay breaking waves of inner tension
labours not beneath misapprehension
in a sense
our innocence is where love gleans redemption
.
love is true and real and crystal clear sincerely felt
(feel it)
love can see renewed appeal to feel when dearly held
(feel it)
love yourselves
love all you see
it never need be wasted
(feel it)
bleed it unconditionally
receive it back legitimately
(feel it)
intimately back it
and embrace it
(feel it)
for while love may seem fiction
for a simple fact
it’s sacred
(feel it)
while love may seem fiction
for a simple fact
it’s sacred
while love may seem fiction
for a simple fact
it’s sacred
.

Richard Charles Stevens

Keeper of The Crimson Quill

Click here to purchase All of Me Vol. I, II, III, IV, V & VI

Click here to purchase on Amazon

© Copyright: Rivers of Grue™ Calvin Harris™ Shadow Spark Publishing™