LOVE WITHOUT FEAR

     I am not sure if I can feel
     Love without fear
     Passion without pain.
     
     Will I perhaps not recognize
     A love that does not add its scars
     To my oft-broken heart.
     
     Yet this I know -
     There dwells within my soul
     A tiny, fragile sprig of love
     Untainted yet with fear or pain.
     And as your gentle loving
     Feeds my hungry heart
     So too this young and tender plant
     Will flourish in your warm embrace.
     
     As you love me
     So will I learn to love.
     Offering to you the many blessings
     I have held close so long
     Against such time as fear has gone.
     That I may give in fullness --
     Of my love and of my strength --
     The gifts you need
     To feed
     And nurture your own wounded soul.
     
     January 29, 1997