I tell myself, in those days
I didn’t understand much about love,
though I did love
(as now I see we all do)
haplessly, perhaps,
helplessly at times,
with an intensity that could have been a key

I didn’t understand love’s power,
didn’t know to use it
so the ones I loved would feel encouraged,
safe, encircled, ready to go forth
to meet their own exigencies with love

I ask myself, well,
how much more of love
do you know now?
And are you able
to shine the light in such a way
that it illuminates instead of blinding?

And if I am, and when I am,
then all those other times of love
will also be redeemed.
That is the way of love,
and love will teach me how.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 25, 2019