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