No Other

How could one possibly
Ever
Love another

When there is not
Can never be
Another

Wherever one looks
It seems as if there are
Others
Endless numbers of others

But since when have
Numbers become others
Since when have 10 and 10,000
Become others to 5 and 5,000

And if one were to love another
A random other
What would one do
With all the rest — the countless others

Hate them, be indifferent
Something other
What is love for another — one other
But unlove for some other
For most others

Loving other cannot be done
For there is no other
And to love one other
Is to unlove most others

And if what — is called love
Is changeable
Fashioned and conditional
In action and expression

Love then — if it were to be
The principle
Universal, unconditional
Could not be changeable

But a vision
Of absolute equanimity
No instant ever being more
Or less
Than another

And if love were to be
Such a principle
Unchangeable, unconditional
Then it could not be called love, at all
And love, then
Must be only what is called love

And this —
But just
A vision of love