*Love and Hate*

Love builds with open hands.

Hate tears down with clenched fists.

Love remembers your name on a bad day.

Hate only remembers the day you were wrong.

Love is staying when it’s hard.

Hate is leaving to prove a point.

Love asks, _“Are you okay?”_

Hate asks, _“Whose fault is this?”_

Love grows in the quiet.

In texts that say _take care_.

In forgiveness that doesn’t keep receipts.

In choosing someone, again.

Hate burns fast.

It feels like power for a minute,

then leaves you empty and loud.

It wants to win,

even if it means losing you.

Love and hate live close.

Same heart, different choice.

One makes the world softer.

One makes the world smaller.

So we decide, every day:

Do we widen, or do we shrink?

Do we hold, or do we throw?

Do we heal, or do we hurt?

Because in the end,

hate is loud but it gets tired.

Love is quiet, and it stays.