Poem: Two Gifts

I love you exactly, precisely, completely
The way that you are, through and through.
No sinister attitude nor smug ingratitude
Can change that, for my love is true.

But 'round the next bend could come trial or friend
Who grants you less gracious esteem.
More, you may aspire to lay hold much higher
Of that which you now only dream.

Unbridled appetites soon become parasites,
Hindering all you can be,
So I'll give correction, an act of affection,
I learned from the One who loved me.

It's not out of spite or some secret delight
That I faithfully purge your dross,
But to spare you much grief and buy some relief
Against disappointment and loss.

It may not be pleasant, this discipline present
I offer, unbidden, to you.
Yet through all the strain,
As you loudly complain,
I will love you, as love you I do.