How Might One Know Love Except by Loving

How might one know love except by loving?
Attraction might be right, but often wrong,
Perhaps because it's short, and life is long,
Perhaps because the proof is in the proving.
Years go by, and one is always moving;
Very little truth can come along.
A week, a month, a year -- and love is strong;
Longer, and the trick is one of choosing.
Enduring love depends on mutual need,
Need acknowledged, open, unashamed
To say, I do not want to be alone.
If one could put aside one's pride and bleed,
No gift or gratitude would go unnamed,
Even as time turned the world to stone.