O Love, you are the breath within my breath,
the urge that beats my heart.
You hold me in the inner folds of your delight;
my name is the prayer upon your lips.
I praise you, who praise me, too;
I sing your grace, your absolute love.
Though others speak of me with hearts of war
and see in me their deepest fears,
you, Love, alone, are my mirror and my name;
you are my root, and I your leaf, your fruit.
Your Word to me is courage,
your name for me Beloved,
and your judgment deep delight.
My enemies assail me according to strange law,
in courts and sanctuaries they accuse my soul.
They seek to cut me off, to amputate my life from them;
they cast me in darkness and invite my doom.
But it is you they rail against,
your grace they tremble at;
it is your love that frightens them;
it is you, O Rejected One, they see in me,
your tenderness they fear,
your powerlessness they scorn.
And you, O God, with love and healing hold me;
you save me from their demons
and shield me from their rage.
Even as I cry for justice, and stand for dignity
among their hail of hate,
you stand with me, you bear their scorn,
you sing my name in quiet gentleness,
you cast your rainbow over me.
Hold me in your peace, and fill me with your love,
that even in their midst I may sing your mercy
and radiate your grace.
—February 25, 2019