What Remains

I loved you,

I love you,

And I will keep loving you—

At any cost.

But if you ever ask me

To lose what I’ve built within myself—

After all the screams in the dark nights,

Nights not alone,

But clouded with storms,

Through years of struggle,

Through a phase where I finally

Started falling in love with who I am—

I would rather die, or kill that love.

Nothing is costlier than losing myself.

Nothing is more precious than my inner being.

I hope you love me the way I love you.

I hope you love yourself the way I’ve learned to love me.

I hope you never ask me to sacrifice my soul,

My life,

Or who I am.

Because then, only ashes of our love would remain,

Scattered in a crowd

That laughs at us,

And pity our failure.

I love you—

But I adore myself.

I could die for you,

But I live for me.