Sometimes we must sacrife
a few letters for love,

especially when we declare it
so publicly, as if, by withholding

a vowel and an oh-so-important
consonant, we have made it clear

to the world—if not our beloved—
that we have given up, renounced,

something, ideally, for them.
Or that we, in our zeal to advance

a runner to a base, relinquished
our place to someone else.

We took on the duties of another
in kindness as they have done for us.

We have no idea if we get points
for such selfless action—

or if there are points at all.
That’s not the point.

The point is to put it out there,
proudly, on a wall, if you like,

spelled as best you can,
your self sacrif(ic)e for love,

and leave it for others to
puzzle out what it means.

You know. You’ve sacrifed.
And we love you for it.