the beginning of love

“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image.”

                              Thomas Merton, The Way of Chuang Tzu

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I do not want to be judged

Certainly not

I do not wanted to be tolerated

As if I were a nagging pain

I don’t want to be loved in parts

(we like this, but frankly we don’t like that!)

I want to be loved the way I am

Accepted, completely

Oh I know, there are things that can be improved

And things that ought to be changed

I am not asking for blanket approval

Just loved, as I am

Perhaps with hope

Perhaps with patience

But loved

By someone

Anyone

you know

loved by a human (or two)

the way I am loved

thank God

by

God