“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

How true! And hence, I swerve

Away from pure love, purity-

A gift undeserved from divinity.

Unspoken, undefined,

But felt, for I shied

From love, taking an opposite path

Leading to eternal wrath.

I ignored the knock, the whisper, the word,

That told me I was loved by the Lord.

Told me the price was paid.

Told me that I was saved.

I knew my desserts, and easier to ignore,

To act out, live my way, than accept or

Acknowledge a love so complete

That before it, forced to admit defeat.

Forced to surrender everything in bliss

Unto a love as I’d wished

From birth: Unconditional,

Understanding, Irrational

Except that I was his daughter,

The wayward daughter of a father

Who reached for me with his arms,

Watched with sorrow as myself I harmed

Running through that other trail,

Scraped on thorns, breaking as I fell

Crying, pushing away his hand

Till desperate, I accepted his plan

When nothing was left.

His Divine Humility, bereft

Of justice or pride, both his right—

Gathered me up, held to his side

A broken, sobbing, stubborn girl,

A pitiful trophy: still he called me his pearl.

An infinite God, choosing to be my father

If only I’d accept to be his daughter.