• I used to be completely cruel and heartless,
    I used to feel an angry, bitter hunger,
    Not knowing why, nor looking much inside.
    I used to think the goal of life was pleasure:
    My own, of course, whatever that might take.
    A woman's feelings had to be her problem.
    Self-sacrifice was always a mistake.
    And so, with just the slightest twinge of conscience,
    I hunted for my lonely ecstasy;
    And even when I wanted a companion,
    The only one I cared about was me.
    We make our worlds, like God, in our own image:
    Mine was a metropolis of stone
    In which all souls were either fools or cynics,
    Doomed to take their pleasure on their own.
    And then I fell in love with you, and somehow
    Your happiness meant more to me than mine.
    The desert became green and lush with flowers,
    And like a sun my heart began to shine.
    And like a wind I swept across the ocean,
    And like a star exploded into night,
    And like a song I held love in my hands,
    And like an angel knew that this was right.
    All that I had thought was proven wrong,
    All the lies to justify my greed.
    To love was to embrace the pith of life,
    To feel a joy far stronger than a need.
    And if I could so love, I could be loved,
    Could think someone might want me and believe it,
    Could let another know me without shame,
    Could give my self and know I could retrieve it.
    All this I tell you that I might be known,
    That all of me no longer be alone;
    And if you do not love the one I am,
    So be it. I will weep, but understand.