I understand there are limits that must suffice,
but what’s the meaning of such sacrifice
that would take away blessing of your friendship dear
and subjugate better judgment to fear?

Why is it you lashed out and labeled me trouble?
My honesty made you uncomfortable,
but I believe, in your heart, you knew my intent
was pure and recognized no harm was meant.

To simply cut me off without explanation
caused irreversible decimation.
I desire only reconciliation.
Yet, having spent years of contemplation,

I am no closer to making sense of fissure
in trust, of sudden, thundering voice sure
of your own righteousness and so filled
with destruction of all we sought to build.

Did it not matter to you? Had I always been
expendable, just a means to an end
as so many people tried to make me believe?
What was the real reason I had to leave?

Behind looming, lawyerly language you have sat;
you’ve made it quite clear you “can’t speak to that.”
I’ve a hunch that God will not much appreciate
misuse of man’s law to annihilate

Hope. Love may be the greatest of these, but love grows
in the presence of hope, a light that goes
forth and rises in the heart, making all things new
and possible in dawn’s elegant hue.

Do you remember daybreaks streaming with promise?
Perhaps you know them still and turn, dismiss
your own accountability in full seizure
of my dreams as you live life of leisure.

I prefer to think your heart has returned to you
intact, that you’ll find the courage to do
whatever’s necessary to remove falsehood,
share truth, restore peace in the neighborhood.