Poem January 9, 1984 Issue

in Love

MARY ALICE ROSE

I knew God could
God would
Guide me into love.
A love that I could
I would someday
perceive, then share.

I thought I had found love. Once.
We parted.
Those were long, hard months
gaining emotional independence anew.

Time passed

Love almost found again.
Almost.

Then in a crystalline moment
the real discovery began.

I thought,
"I loved him enough to let him go."

But did I?

As the enlightened shepherds awoke
to the dawning of the Christ,
so I awoke to the realization that
it isn't how much you love someone.
It's how you love him.
In what way.

Finally
I'd tasted spiritual independence—freedom.
At last! I thought.
I love Him enough to let him go!

To be no more anxious
desperate
possessive.

But purer
ever freer
in love in Love.
A shared love given
without reserve
without fear
without condition.

Someday was now.
I'd found it (this Godlike quality)!
It had been waiting for me
to have
to hold
in which to grow more fully and share
from this day forward.

At last! I thought.

Unselfed love!

MARY ALICE ROSE

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