Love is a Refining Fire

Two strangers nod across a great divide,
They neither know nor wish the other’s good,
Nor urge their “friend” to virtue, as they should,
And though they work together, they are blind.
True brothers come, departing as the tide,
Yet each to each is better understood,
As iron sharpens iron, as they should,
They boost each other’s heart and soul and mind.
The wife who knows him best is never kind,
Her love embraces him and does him good,
Yet pressing him beyond where he has stood,
And while devoted, it is never blind.
True love is fire, cleansing every soul,
It shall not be content ‘til we are whole.
-Tyler William O’Neil
-July 24, 2009