by John Russell Monagle

When I surrender to this love that exists
	though it was never my desire or design,
	born not of my heart but in the divine
I relinquish the rage and fire within me that resists

I can only ask as to why
it cannot perish so I can be free
Does it serve her and not only me?
Must I carry this burden until I die?

	No answer to the question I appealed
	I obey the mystery in my adherence.
It is only for God to determine our fates.
Until the truth is revealed
I spend the minutes and days in quiet reverence
One also loves who sits and waits. 

---

John Russell Monagle resides in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He retired from a career at The Library of Congress. He graduated from Vermont College of Fine Arts with a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing, specializing in poetry. He has had numerous poems published, most recently in Sin Fronteras, High Plains Register, and the New Mexico Poet Laureate anthology of New Mexico poets for 2022.