literature

Love Thy Enemy (What It Means to Me)

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Roskvape's avatar
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Literature Text

Cause harm out of malice—
You are my enemy
For you, I wish happiness
As you would not find it
Without first doing good

Cause harm out of ignorance—
You serve my enemy
For you, I wish knowledge
As you would not find it
Without then choosing right

Cause harm out of confusion—
You aid my enemy
For you, I wish understanding
As you would not find it
Without also finding truth

Cause harm out of past err—
You were my enemy
For you, I wish redemption
As you will not find it
Without returning a hero

I shed no tears for you
No pity for the self-ruined
I will fight you if I must
I will fight to my dying breath
To counter harm with good

But I live for the day:
You see why you are that way
You find the answers you lack
You discover certainty in truth
You earn your own forgiveness

For don't you see, it must be love
If all I want is for you to find
The greatest treasures in the world
You are only my enemy now
Because you lost them then

Come back
You were once an ally, once loved
We're waiting for you
In the sunlight
To see our shining champions again

You will be back
Even if you don't yet know you're gone

And that will be the day I weep
"Love thy enemy" never made sense to me as a child. In fact, I resented the phrase--hated it--because I thought it meant to appease one's enemies. Propitiation is something I can't stand. Tolerate, reward, placate, and submit to harmful people? Just . . . no.

Similarly, I resented the concept of forgiveness. Forgiving wrong behavior is just another way of saying it's okay--and I could never say such a thing.

But forgiveness isn't about forgiving an evil action, or saying it's okay. It's about letting a person change their ways and make amends--and once they do, not holding their past actions against them. If you cannot let people earn redemption, they will never be able to be anything but your enemy on some level.

I guess this explains why much of my writing focuses strongly on redemption and human bonds.
© 2012 - 2024 Roskvape
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0bsidianFire's avatar
This is excellent! I really like how you've put this. I sense long hours of dealing with what "Love thy enemy" really means. It's hard, but it's so worth it.

And now my graphics muse wants to do typography with this...