What She's Worth

To feel unwanted and abandoned
To feel that you have been disgraced
By the one you'd bear your heart to
Whose smile you've written on your face

To feel you couldn't bear another
Dagger, arrow, sword or spear
To want to hide your heart from danger
& yet to want to draw her near

To feel you need to let her go
And to just not have the strength -
or will to cast away the sorrows
But still, to want not to be helped

To wait and not get tired of waiting
Although time is slowly running out
And to breathe, and hope, and wish for more
Than love ever has poured out

To learn the discipline of acting -
acting fine when you are down
And though she gets you weeping more than she makes you smile -
to still want to work things out

To  learn to speak the language
She signals silently to you
& to be fluent in every flinch and sigh
That her body throws at you

To seek to be her greatest friend
& her trusted council too
To want to be her sentinel -
the rock she holds on to

& to love her more than comfort
Oh, to want to hold her heart
To want to counter every blow
That sets out to hit its mark 

To want to wrestle more with fate
Than you've ever dared before
To risk your heart and soul, your mind
Is what she's worth - and more

If that's what she is worth to you, at least
Well, then she's worth the World
If you can stand to let her dig that deep
She's your woman, she's your girl.