I like the argument of this - it is very sonnet-like, and so is the 14-line form although you've not gone for a rhyme scheme. I'm not sure the final couplet convinces though - plainly the narrator doesn't love this person more than their dignity, rather, they are afraid of rejection I would think. After all, it is easier to love from afar than to test your love on the 'front line'.

They've already confessed their love to the person. They just have no intention to pursue any kind of a relationship, because it is known to be unfeasable. The rejection has already been dealt with. The idea behind it is that the one who is desired should not be afraid of the fact that they are loved by the narrator, because the love just stands as it is...dignified, existing, but non possessive.

OK, but that background is not clear from the poem itself. But don't get me wrong - I think the dignity of the piece comes over loud and clear.

i understood. i understand with every fibre. why are people threatened by a love like this? can love ever be wrong? i think, no. i think that actions can be misguided and selfish at times, or, they can be the opposite. but a love such as this, feeling that ethereal rope which connects your heart to his, regardless of all else, is pure. other things in life may prevent you from wrapping yourselves in each other; it is that way often enough. and to live with the dignity of loving from afar without soiling your own heart, that is heroic. thank you kthulah.

But men appreciation do not fire... makes no sense. Huaghty laugh sounds awkward. And what's so dignified about unrequited love? The last couplet gets a 5/10

the dignity comes in when you stop before you make a fool of yourself

You already are making a fool of yourself. Life is short,loves about the only worthwhile thing in it. Pride is a cold comfort.

Pride is all. It's you, god's woman who is making a fool of yourself. There are many kinds of love and this is a beautiful example of one of the better and most ignored kinds. Sort of sad that your closed definitions involve only hugging and fucking and birds and hearts. kthulah, the non-possessiveness is wonderful and something which many "love" poems cannot accept.

i will always love; i have never seen that fade. i differentiate between pride and dignity. for me, to hold myself up after the separation is all the dignity i can muster; pride never rears its head. i recognize that a man may choose to remain married, unhappily, if he feels that taking a mistress will harm his relationship with his children. i see that it would, for we began to posess each other. there would be not much left for them, if we had.... so, i allow him his choice, even though it is not mine. i love, i respect, i continue. maybe that is not at all what she meant when she wrote this; but it is what it meant to me when i read it.

That was some kick ass writing! Your comment I mean, very moving,I was right there holding your hand, I'm sorry for your loss,keep writing this way. Isn't it the man's pride and his wife's pride that are getting in the way here? Does he love her? His wife I mean.

Jesus, I fell like I am reading an interview with fucking Hester. Go change your clothes!

and you would have me change into...?

See, it's always about belief systems. I haven't seen marriage work in such a long time. Not to say it can't, but there are so many people to love who love us back and make life a joy. Monogamy is difficult at best, but when it's for all the wrong reasons, it's the saddest thing I know. Being a parent,I know how much I want to protect my son but the truth is the reality and if I hide the truth from my child, I am contributing to the Grand Lie which only helps to make my boy mal-adjusted. Life is well life, and the children deserve to learn the truth of how people behave,in or out of love. Just as your sad beau grew up with the false belief in the perfect marriage/husband/father he is perpetuating that lie for his babies. I to will have troubles adjusting when the reality reveals it's self. The positive thing is you'll get a lot of insight and artistic inspiration from these acute emotions.

A liberal sprinkling of the Olde English at work here. Mostly pleasant. Dare I mention the word cliche with respect to "loving from afar". Like the conclusion. Loving someone more than ones own dignity is never recommended, but frequently tends to happen. 8.

Typo- it's suppose to read THEY to will haver trouble adjusting. Not I. I mean me. I mean I have my own troubles, like using a keyboard for example.

yes. my parents lived a lie. i saw through it. to see the cycle continue heightens my sadness; to know what we could have given each other, and will never... enough. i have been crying at my desk again. i am true to me; funny thing is, for him to be true to himself, he would have had to be untrue.
one of life's little ironies.

damn those unruly keyboards! have they no dignity??

The only dignity is truth.

He would have to be untrue to his beliefs, which are not concrete. If only some one could tell him that changing beliefs is part of maturing. He is being untrue to himself to you to his wife to his children and to love. Now I'm crying.

i find my truth anew each day. somepeople are surprised when they drag theirs out, and it doesn't fit them anymore. he may regret dousing the light; he may never look back. i suspect his blinders keep him going. to look around; well, is unsettling. one loses one's balance. sob away, ma soeur de la coeur.

this has the reek of a sraight edge smile.....i like it...it's swell. 8/10!.

Thank you all for your comments. I had no idea that this little work would spark so much discussion. I had my doubts about leaving it so "raw", but that's just how the feelings came out. Word of caution to those going through similar things, though...Love and possession are separate issues, but sometimes if you don't go for it, Fate will kick you in the arse until you go the way you need to. I learned that the hard way.

I like this, its very human at face value. It answers a question that many are asked on a daily basis. - Thumbs up and top marks 10/10.

ZZinnia and God's wife, I've been reading your comments and you've both spoken a lot of sense. There's no reason why marriage shouldn't work but perhaps the parameters of marriage should be modified in the modern age. Life obviously doesn't work out in the way our great-great-grandparents thought it would.Why do we push ourselves into these boxes and assume that we will only ever love one person? Zzinnia, I really feel for you, I understand completely how this has happened to you because it's happened to me too.

Are you married, Christof? Gutted.