A Bitter Cup Poem by Josephine Dunn

You drank deep from my cup,
So deep you drained even the dregs.
Bitter dregs of past hurts,
Sour on the tongue.

So with my love
Comes all my pain.
But still you drink
Deeper and deeper,
Used to the bitterness of your own past,
Feeding the delicate creeping tendrils
Of your heart
As they struggle to take root
And climb out of the mire
Into the sun.

Why do you shout at my anguish?

Perhaps to scare it away.

Does it open again the wounds
I have strived so hard
To heal with love?

May 2006