When weariness overtakes you
And your fuse is short,
Love anyway.
When the slap of reality hurts
So bad you want to lash back,
Love anyway.
When the loss is so deep
You can’t see straight,
Love anyway.
When you’re tempted to quit
And go running away forever,
Love anyway.
That’s what love is;
That’s why it’s called love.
o o o
“Love anyway” is one of the 101 encouragements in my book A Bridge at Crossroads. It’s funny; I forgot that I originally illustrated it with a photo of Willow The Best Dog There Was™ resting her head and paw on my leg. Now, when I decided to reprint it, as I seem to do every couple of years, I independently decided to illustrate it with a somewhat similar photo of Summer and me. There must be something about snuggling with a pup that reminds me of this little poem.
The new book has more in common with Crossroads than my last book, Echoes of Freedom Past. That book was about identifying the storm and finding ways to stay free in this weird new dystopia; this one is about calming the storm and finding the peace in freedom, realizing that whatever comes our way, it’s going to be all right, however else it may appear.
Mostly today, though, I just wanted to revisit my poem. Every so often you sit down to write out a feeling, and when you’re finished you’ve written exactly what you meant to say. The day I wrote this poem was one of those “every so oftens.”