............................................Tender Care...................................

Sitting in the presence

of another's pain and grief,

stripped clean and hard

of all but your unadorned self,

is a physically exhausting undertaking.

In such a state

of weakness and despair,

it's not hard to recognize

another presence there;

the gentle strength of Love

that holds us all with tender care,

and breathes hope

into lungs scorched and sooted

by a fire named Fear.

© 2014 Todd Jenkins