Love Still

There are times

I have been here before

Though not quite so

Not with this sweetness

This missing of you

For I love you still

I have ached for love

Betimes in my past

But you are different

Never did I open so much

Like a sunflower

Reaching ever up

For the morning sun

I opened my heart

Hoping to find with you

A love I have not known

Baring my secrets

Daring to be known

In all my faults

Not just my victories

Longing to be accepted

Despite my ugly moments

A past riddled with mistakes

Some quite dark

And a painful history

Of abuse and agony

But you forgave me

And let me be real

About all of it

How much it meant

And so to you also

Or so you said

Not that I doubt you

I do not accuse you

Of being false

But just understanding

How pain distorts reality

And fogs up our goggles

Making it so hard

To know what the truth is

I forgive you

I love you still

I wish I could tell you

But cannot now

For you have chosen silence

A Grand Canyon between us

I think I understand why

But cannot confirm it

I just hope

It is less painful for you

On your end

In that precious space

Deep within your breast

Like in mine

Where I love you still

Stephen Pursell, 9/7/16