The Living Heart of the Dying Lover (In Reply to You)

Why must love equate to sacrifice?

Why isn’t ‘I love you’ enough?

I have nothing left to give up, for I have given everything to you.

I cannot forsake Heaven for you. To love one who is forsaken is to forsake yourself, and I cannot deprive you of Heaven for loving me. 

And I cannot die for you. You are my beating heart. To die is to give you up and I am not willing. But neither can I live for you, for there is no death for that which is eternal, and in your arms, I am immortal. 

At the risk of your respect’s honor, I cannot pretend. I am selfish. I was only half a person before you, and the severance has left me with only half a mind for myself, and that I must preserve. How can you love me if I don’t love myself? How can you respect me if I have forsaken that which makes me worthy of due regard?

I can give you only myself in whatever state my soul remains. Will you have me as I am?