Not With Wings

Not With Wings 

Here soar,
not with wings,

but with your moving hands and feet
and sweating brows -

standing by your Beloved's side
reaching out to comfort this world

with your cup of solace
drawn from your vast reservoir of Truth.

Here soar
not with your eyes and senses 

that turn their backs 
on the earth's sweet stumbling dance 
which needs you.

Here love, O here love,
with your mouth tender and open upon your lover,

and with your heart on duty 
to the souls of rivers, children, forests, animals. 

           I love that line about your heart being on duty for souls, for Love. I would think there is not a better employer in the world. Love encourages you to grow, so that you no longer can turn your back on the world and the missions that you hold dear.
           When people say "a true love won't make you change who you are", they're mistaken in some sense. True love should not only change you, it should transform you. Love, when it is real, provides an extra catalyst to reach your dreams. Take that to mean whatever it should personally. Maybe it means you did it sooner, or finally set sail, or found that someone became your cheerleader, or just your friend to come home to. And suddenly, the daunting tasks of the world weren't yours to battle alone, but dragons to fight together. Love is intention, love is action, love is active participation.
          “If I love, then I care—that is, I am actively concerned with the other person’s growth and genuine happiness. I am not a spectator in this; I am a participant. If I love, then I am responsible, response-able—that is, I respond as best as I can to his or her needs—to those needs that he or she can express, and even more so to those needs that he or she cannot or does not express. – Erich Fromm, The Sane Society

Ordinary People (2004), John Legend