Savoir Aimer

Knowing how to smile
At a passing stranger
Leaving no trace
Except that of pleasure
Knowing how to love
Without expecting anything in return
No consideration, no great love
Not even the hope of being loved

But knowing how to give
Give without taking back
Do nothing but learn
Learn to love
To love without waiting
To love with all one's heart
Learn to smile
Just for the gesture
Without wanting the rest
And learn to live
And to leave

Knowing how to wait
Taste this full happiness
Given to you as if by mistake
When you no longer expected it
Believe in it
To deceive the fear of emptiness
Embedded like so many wrinkles
That tarnish the mirrors

Knowing how to suffer
In silence, without a murmur
No defense, no armor
Suffering to want to die
And to rise
As one is reborn from one's ashes
With so much love to spare
That one draws a line on the past

Learning to dream
To dream for two
Just by closing your eyes
And knowing how to give
Give without erasure
No half-measures
Learning to stay
To want until the end
To stay despite everything
Learning to love
And to leave
And to leave