February 24, 2019
How sad it is that when we need love most,
We are the most unlovely. If the heart
Is starved for tenderness, the tongue will boast;
While bodies ache for love they hold apart,
Stiff and unyielding, flinging in love’s eyes
The pepper of apparent unconcern.
And as the stubborn consciousness denies
A need, hot flames of desperation burn.
They storm the frail defenses we construct,
To let us face the world and let us cope;
Reserves of vigor crumble, to obstruct
The channels for recovery and hope.
And love, the only thing that could deflect
Disaster, we persistently reject.
By Dalene Workman Stull
Today I read about a young man who grew up in poverty and abuse, being taken to a juvenile detention center because he threatened to stab his abusive mother. However, because of the love of a teacher and other caring adults in his life, Ryan Speedo Green went on to become one of the best bass-baritone opera singers in the world. His biography is called Sing for Your Life: A Story of Race, Music, and Family by journalist Daniel Bergner.
The poem above echoes his early life. Before love won.