Attention Is Love

I asked: what is love?
Not the fever, not the rush
Not a voice that takes the room
Or a need to say too much

I’ve been loud, I’ve been noise
I’ve been reaching to be seen
Now I sit inside the space
Where another life can breathe

There’s a silence I can hold
Not empty, not alone
Something steady in my chest
That isn’t mine to own

Attention is love
Not a spotlight, not control
It’s the turning of the head
When another soul unfolds

Attention is love
Not possession, not demand
It’s the space I choose to keep
With an open, steady hand

I don’t need to take the lead
I don’t need to win the frame
There’s a world in what you say
I can enter without name

But I’m not a fading line
I’m not gone to let you shine
I leave traces when I speak
If you want, you’ll follow mine

There’s a balance I can feel
Not a loss, not a defense
I can give without erase
I can stand inside the sense

Attention is love
Not a spotlight, not control
It’s the quiet kind of fire
That can warm without a role

Attention is love
Not romantic, not above
It’s the act of letting be
And still choosing to stay close

It’s not the hunger
It’s not the chase
It’s not the flood that fills the space

It’s not the voice that drowns the room
Or proving I deserve to bloom

It’s not a performance
Not a plea
Not “do you see me, validate me”

It’s softer strength
It’s grounded breath
It’s choosing presence over depth

I don’t disappear
I don’t take control
I don’t need to be the whole

I can listen
I can stay
I can meet you where you are today

Attention is love
Simple, certain, standing still
In the space between two lives
There’s a quiet kind of will

Attention is love
And I know it now because
I can feel it when I turn
And I let another be enough

I asked what love was
Now I understand—
It’s not what I take
It’s how I let you stand