The Science of Love and Pain

I poured my love into an image
that was not actually there.
I thought my lover took my troth
but she really did not share
my desire.
There was no reciprocation.
Neither, would I say, was there intent to deceive.
There was simply  
no need
to find a higher love
and yet,  
I do believe
the pain of parting,
was
still the same
as if our affair  
had become
the waterfall
I longed for.
This presents the possibility
that love thus given  
can eventually deliver pain
to the giver
in similar magnitude
to that of
losing an object of affection
that had actually taken part,
proving "the hope of love"
as deadly as
the real thing  
to the heart.