I feel pain at the pain
that you live through.
If I were to wish away
the pain I have watching you,
both of us I would betray,
for my experience of pain
is prompted by my love for you
which then would fly away
and I would be bereft of love’s
descending dove
known in the pain I ache
and share with you,
so I covet and embrace the pain
that confirms my undying love for you.
*idea from a meditation by Frederick Buechner
Empathy witth or from the beloved.