Side By Side

I have kept your place through winters without end
I have forgiven words that wounded more than steel
I have stayed when grief made strangers of us both
I have held your hand when every door was closed
But patience does not mean
Accepting every wound
Devotion is not staying while my spirit breaks
Can love forgive?
Yes
But it must never lie about the wound
I will wait when winter closes every road
I will stay
I will stay when sorrow leaves the fire low
I will love you fiercely
When the world turns cruel
I will take your hand
But never lose myself
I will not call betrayal loyalty
I will not call a cage devotion
The one who wants this heart must understand
She stands beside you
Not beneath you