A poem: Love Pursued

Love pursued me from behind; I ran the other way
I couldn’t stop for fear it’d take me rather far away
Love pursued – it did not stop – until I ran too far,
Then stooped and picked my sad heart up and took me to the car
We drove and drove through many miles of pain and strife and woe
Until I realized that this was not the way to go
So round-a-bout we made a turn back to the place we’d started
And rolled our sleeves up nice and high and (even heavy-hearted)
We dug and dug and dug ‘til we could scrape the ground no more
And wound up falling, naked, gasping right there on the floor
And just when I thought time had passed and I was all alone,
Love came and found me, picked me up and placed me on the phone
With one whose journey – there and gone – had found my resting place
And now love has me standing facing love in sweet embrace
Where will we go? I’m asking love, for I must know the way
‘It’s already inside you, love,’ my new love hears me say
And so it is through life and dream and story never told
That I begin – here – from the start with love impassioned, bold
No matter where our journey leads,
‘Round hills and dales and bends
We know the journey home to love is one which does not end
For right when we’ve held up our hands in desperateness and pleas
Love looks at us, has mercy, rises up from on our knees
And so, my friend, whenever you feel lost and so afraid
Remember all that you have learned – the promises Love’s made
And go wherever tide and season, bliss and yearning lead
Into the arms of one who’ll never leave your soul in need
For deep within the heart of every woman, child and man
Are seeds of Love to grow you home right back where you began
It is a circle ever spun, this life we live of ours
And love is in the center of it giving us its powers
With strength and power deep and sure it rescues empty hearts
With love and deep compassion calling always for all parts
of us to come together, mend and bind and come as one
Into the arms of love where one is never ever done
Completion, wholeness are our gifts to cherish in this life
But love - sweet love - is something that will never, never die


- Kristin Firestone, August 2010