I said,

‘You have to take it
personally,
or you cannot play
the game at all.

The lessons, like plants,
cannot be absorbed by osmosis,
if they are
to reach the head
and heart.

What would be
the purpose of the lesson
if it could not
be applied
where you are?

Love is played for real
and we may be the idea
loved into being;
carried like a brother
on your back.

It will again be the stuffs
other dreams are dreamed of.’