"Protected one that burns within" Poem from 12-5-2002

Why must you push me away?

I see you hiding behind the wall that you guard so tightly.

Suited up in your armor, ready and waiting to strike back.

Can you hear me at all?

Where are you my love?

Does anything get past this ridiculous madness?

So afraid to be seen for who you are.

Believing in a world created by your suffering.

Not good enough for who?

Self hatred washes over me like a river, and I am that.

How can it be true that you love me for who I am?

When you fall into stillness,

It is clear that I have always loved you.

And every time you refuse me, I will only become more relentless.

For this time, there is no escaping the truth that lies beneath the noise.  

~by Jennifer Byrd Rubacky 

12-5-2002