“Love is the ultimate outlaw.

It just won’t adhere to any rules.

The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice.

Instead of vowing to honor and obey,

maybe we should swear to aid and abet.

 

That would mean that security is out of the question.

The words “make” and “stay” become inappropriate.

My love for you has no strings attached.

I love you for free.”

~ Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker

 

Outlaw love doesn’t know the rules. Sometimes it’s yes, and sometimes no. But never maybe. Never game playing or wishy-washy answers.  It doesn’t beg. It doesn’t whine. There’s no sleepwalking allowed here.

Outlaw love is bareback, riding down the mountainside and letting go of the reins.

You know this outlaw. It’s in you. It’s somewhere between the lump in your throat and that spot that tightens in your chest when you get scared. It has no regard for calendars or clocks or time zones. There’s no reasoning with an outlaw. No bribes, no threats work here, it’s already been broken 50 times. It’s not about what you’re getting. Not at all. It’s only what you give, willingly, without hesitation.

Outlaw love sometimes says, “I don’t know how the hell to do this, but I’m doing it anyway.” It says, “I love you” and means it, and doesn’t worry if you’ll say it back. It sometimes doesn’t even say a word. It doesn’t have to. It’s there, in the stillness, between your breaths—always.

You can’t keep an outlaw locked up;

this must be given.

For all of those you love:

take no prisoners.

Love them like an outlaw.