AMOR CHRISTI

My bond with you

Is not the binding of a superstition -

I have not said

‘To guarantee good luck I’ll follow You’ -

I do not wear your symbol as a charm.

My care of you

Is not the care that comes of obligation -

I will not pay

Attention to you by man’s calendar,

Nor do the will of any less than you.

My work for you

Is driven not by greed for recognition

Nor by the need

To compensate for some great weight of sin -

Because you ask me, I do everything.

My words for you

Cannot be pages of propitiation -

Awe and fear,

Eulogies, interminable prayer,

Begging and preaching, you will never hear.

And when I greet you

I will not bow, or kneel, or bend my head -

I cannot meet

Your steady gaze that way; I will not turn

My face, nor stay away,

My Friend,

From your embrace.