Love depends intimately and completely on faith. When I am confronted with no evidence, or counter-evidence, for the love that is expressed for me, I have to take the words on faith. That faith has to be more powerful than my own insecurities, than the apathy or disinterest that threatens to undermine the expression.

It seems like it is harder to have faith in a person than in divinity. People will challenge my faith in them, will disappoint me, push me away. Divinity, though, is only what a person wants it to be. How can one's faith be challenged if it is all in one's head?

At the same time, I've always held that what people credit to divine influence is really their own unacknowledged inner-strength. So, having faith in a deity I would interpret as faith in the self. And I know just how hard it is to maintain faith in yourself. While others may disappoint us, it is easy to forgive when we find out their perspective. I know when I disappoint myself, though, it takes me a long time to forgive. I hold myself to a higher standard.

Hmm, whether it is in myself or someone else, faith in people is hard.

Faith is a struggle I understand only too well.
When she says "I love you,"
The words are only as true as I believe.
Some days, such words mean more than nothing
Due only to my investment in their truth,
I can find no evidence to prove them.
Ain't that the case with any love?
More than we see it, we feel it, believe it.
Love can only exist through Faith.

This is an early draft of a portion of a verse to a larger poem I'm working on. The whole poem is about how I, as an atheist, experience Faith.