You Never Did Like My Tenderness Much....

I know that you figured it would somehow be my undoing:

a sweet smile at a man on the street

trusting other women around my man

loving with all my heart no matter what the cost

following my dreams with caution and care

opening

silent contemplation of bigger things...

So you took great pains to initiate me into the challenges of the world

starting with us:

you cheated

lied

left

never fully giving over to love

because you had a wall around your heart

built of wild oats

and the complicated justice of youth...

When my life shed that relationship

I nearly closed every door, almost gave in to the attractive notion of a fortress:

it would sure save me money in tissues and cigarettes, now wouldn't it?

But

Instead

I stood tall and gentle

sternum to God

feet firmly planted in the good earth of California

Letting the very tenderness you so misunderstood become my finest attribute:

I've honed it

honored it

crafted a vessel out of it

with which to sail straight into darkness as easily as light

for both have immense gifts to hand me if I can just listen up and take care.

I know you've turned out to be a good man

firsthand: I am proud of you and I hold you and your family in my heart with great respect and honest affection

but

even more important than history and fortune,

the gift of knowing you has been the understanding that

water carves away rock

quietly

singing

a calm, measured molecular song

as its gentle hand minutely sweeps away that which cannot be moved:

My tender loving heart is the strongest thing I have

and in its chambers everything heals

and leaves its perfect mark.

I built these earrings for a woman who needs to see her softness

as a warrior's strength.

RESERVE PENDING

Delicate Shields

Hammer formed

Pierced

Riveted

Maidenhair Fern Impressions

Tough like a memory

and tender as an open heart.

Namaste,

Allison