By Valentina DuPont
Love isn’t just passion. It isn’t just the fire we feel at the beginning.
It’s what comes after.
It’s built slowly, in the quiet moments, in the pauses, the forgiveness, the choosing.
I wrote this poem as a reflection on the kind of love that grows, deepens, and endures. A love that begins with the self and expands to include another. Then another.
This photo was taken during our baby moon in Hawaii. I was eight months pregnant with Henry. And in that sunset moment, I felt the full spectrum of what love had become for us. This poem is for that journey.
The Rainbow of Love
Love begins within,
because we can’t give
what we haven’t nurtured in ourselves.
We give who we are.
The body can dance with anyone,
but the soul laughs with the one who surrenders.
Love is a handcrafted labor,
shaped slowly, with patience and a slow burning flame.
It is alchemy, magic,
a wordless kind of closeness.
Love is also individuality,
a I love you and a you love me,
the respect that breathes
in the shared air between two.
It is that knowing look that undresses you,
that protects you.
Love is understanding
and forgiveness.
It is distance, when needed,
to let yourself be
and let the other be.
Love is giving,
it is offering without losing yourself.
It is simple,
though not always easy.
Love is being happy
in the other’s happiness.
And choosing, every day,
to love again.
It took many small acts of love, of learning and unlearning,
of choosing each other over and over again.
On this beach in Hawaii,
eight months pregnant and full of gratitude,
we paused to breathe in what we had built:
a love that is slow, tender,
and strong enough to hold the life
growing quietly between us.
Copyright © 2025 Valentina DuPont. All rights reserved.
Poems From The Kitchen Table 
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