The Loss Leader Life

Those who like misanthropists
know that the love they recieve
in return often seems much less
than the affections
that other people say they get.

Their gamble is that the little
that they put their trust in
becomes more assured
the less they ask for more.

Wither Loyalty?

The oldest oldest push-me-pull-me
 in the world is love vs like.
Love draws us, like it or not,
into the realm of another whom we find
that we just can't resist. The best we do
is learn how the other person ticks
from the gaps in how we engage with them.
When society demands  that we always
accept each other, heedless of how we feel
it is the surest path to masking depths
of mistrust and debt that, unwatched, breed.
These debts in support of character
will either write off all respect
between the lenders and the indebted
or make what is owed un-repayable
-and unforgiven (and unforgivable)
the memories fester until life
becomes irredeemably painful.

If perpetual acceptance means
being disallowed to dislike others,
wither the generosity and loyalty
of choosing to forget their wrongs?