Unconditional Love

Unconditional Love
by Vivian Gilbert Zabel

When life brings me low,
Filled with sadness and despair,
I fight depression with a vengeance
In order to keep hope and joy alive.

Sometimes, though, the blow
Delivered with indifference,
Maybe dealt with malice,
Cannot be brushed aside.

This latest hit is one not
Readily forgotten or ignored.
The disappointment grows
Rather than fading from my heart.

When I give my love to another,
Whether to husband, child, or friend,
I bestow without reservation,
Never withholding, not limiting.

However, love without condition
Leaves me vulnerable to pain
When the loved one withdraws
Or wounds me with distress.

Then I sit as I do today, crying,
Perhaps with tears on my cheeks
Or inside where my heart fades,
A little, much, with malaise rampant.

What is saddest, at least to me,
Is the person wielding the whip
May not know, much less care,
How bruised, how destroyed I am.

I pray that I may ever be aware
Of how thoughtless actions
I may do or fail to perform
Can render someone dejected.

May I never cause anyone
The disappointment, despondency
That someone has brought to me.
Unconditional love can hurt.