Love's Unanswered Call

Seeking light at the end of my tunnel,
Rain in my hurricane,
Hoping to pull one small stone
From my burdened Great Wall,
I came to your door.

Breathless, demanding,
Your mindless messenger:
Furious as fire,
Ashamed as burnt lace,
Terrified of love’s
Unanswered call.

Forty days I persisted;
Forty days and their nights
I knocked at your door.
On that very last morning,
Dried up and standing alone,
Only then did I finally know:
Not your echoes of judgment
Not your punishing pounding within,
But my own fragile knuckles,
In the end all callused and cold,
Had caused me such pain,
Had kept me without,
Had stopped me
From opening
The door.