Don’t pick me.

I am not an option.

You can’t weigh my heart
against what another can offer,
rationalizing who best serves
your insatiable hunger.

You call your appetite discernment.
But it’s greed justified by reason.

Don’t pick me.

I am not an option.

I was never meant to be compared,
contrasted,
or dissected
for your own amusement.

You see, my love
is not a pros and cons list.

It’s not an endless well
of giving to you
because I care.

I am not your option.

I am not a choice.

I am chosen.

Love is not weighing multiple hearts
to see which one gives you more
and asks for the least.

It is not deciding
who will adore you more,
empty their pockets,
pour until there is nothing left,
and call the depletion devotion.

My love is not a transaction.

I cannot be reduced to a list.

I am not paper.

I am passion, purpose,
and love in action.

You mistook yourself
for the one holding the choice.

That was the illusion
that kept you from seeing
the real me.

What a beautiful mistake:

You believed I was waiting
for you to pick me.

My worth is not dependent
on you seeing my value.

But I was simply watching
to see whether your love
could stand beside
the love I had already found
inside of me.

—Written by Shannon Kaiser