The Giver’s Folly - Part 2/2
“The Devil’s Dialectic”

Alas! To chime in now..
it is The Devil’s turn to brawl:
“But is not truest love..
the love that’s freely given?
Expecting nothing in return?
And if it carries an implicit expectation
of sufficiently explicit affirmation..
then is it not the truest love
you speak of, oh so fondly,
after all?”

Consider this..
The giver may be passionate and willing..
And only giving love that finds receiving..
And still his heart need not be then impenetrable..
to its own feeling.
The freely given love is freely given..
which means it also can become
freely un-given just as well.
And there is nothing stopping him
from moving on.. except perhaps
his word.
If he is foolish, quite enough,
to ever give it all too soon..
And seasoned givers should know better.

A giver’s word.. that is his bond.
And he should only give it..
if he means it well.
if he means it truly to high heavens..
and to the deepest circles of hell..
And if he means it.. then it binds him,
also with his actions.. to follow through.
And the burden then, of managing his feelings..
definitely falls on him, and not on you.
However faint the other’s love might be..
however much or little of the giver
the receiver’s eye
might see.

The smartest givers.. never promise..
until they know for sure.
The smartest givers.. hesitate to state
their love too openly..
unless they know that love awaits them
on the other end, in turn..
and not mere silence with its quiet burn.
It is a pain they frankly bring upon themselves.
It is a pain that is a harshly loving teacher..
and is not pain the teacher of most precious,
well-remembered lessons?
The seasoned givers know her all too well.

Sometimes the only righteous move is still to love..
But then to lift their heart a little from the scales..
Sometimes it is the only route to manage ethically.
It is the ol’ reliable.. because it rarely ever fails.