You don’t have to be anything to me
Except yourself
Nor prove your worth to me
Except through your own presence
You don’t have to rattle, ramble, or rush
Through a thousand thoughts
Deep and provoking, keen and penetrating,
Yet cold and sterile
–
I desire your company
You, the whole of you, just being you
Not constrained and suffocated,
Upholding a scholarly façade to shield your soul
I see through to the heart that I love for its goodness
You don’t need to prove yourself to me
For I know you enough to love you
And that is all that counts
–
You’re driving yourself too hard
Taut like a violin string about to snap
Let yourself laugh without an afterthought,
Tease without fearing a back-lash,
Know that I would bring you no pain
Though your stiffness rubs me raw
And pricks me like dull pins,
Doing yourself more harm than you know
–
I am warm and impulsive,
Too quick to trust, perhaps you would say,
But I miss you in the quiet of my heart
And have shed tears for the wall between us
I long to melt it away like snow in the sun,
To bear your joys and sorrows,
So you’ll take it all in stride
And face the world
–
Let courage steel your soul
And break the back of warped illusions
Hurt as you have been, or fear to be,
You are God’s child, with weapons in your charge
Let your eyes look straight ahead, unflinching
Let the gloom be gone and learn to smile
You can do so with me
That’s the proof of my love
