If I Could Take Your Burden Away

The feelings you hold inside produce a storm

That rages daily without relief,

Even as the shadows and drizzling rain

Replace your pain with soothing melancholy.

I see your pain, feel your despair quickly replaced

By hope, then crashing back to its well-known abyss.

Sometimes my optimism seems like a curse,

When I want to take all your pain, bitterness and worry and

Consume it like a cancer with no regard for my life.

But I know that is not what you want,

Your loving and calm spirit wishes only for a relief from the darkness,

Not to drag others into your painful reality.

If love could cure the pain, I would heap it on you like soothing coals to

Burn away the scars, or like a blanket to cover you with the warmth of hope.

I will stand with you, strengthen you, carry your burden and

Retain the book of confidence for you, to read you bedtime stories

Of a little boy who crossed a great chasm,

Who fought dragons of internal despair and self-doubt,

And who emerged victorious at the end of your perilous journey

With an unbelieving backward gaze at all you have conquered.

I cannot write the story of triumph for you, but

I will always be there to carry your burden and read you the

Adventures of your life as you, in undying confidence and strength,

Write the next chapter.