by Janina Aza Karpinska

Give me your pain – your stab in the heart,
your betrayal; your shame; your despair.
Give me your fear.

Fear of violation; fear of being forgotten; 
fear of insignificance, of having no meaning.
fear of separation. 

Give me everything.

Give me your indifference and contempt.
Give me your ignorance and covert ways.
Give me your feeling exposed.

Give it all to me.

I know the depth and size of this devastation; 
the weight of your intolerable burden. 

I can take it. Believe Me.

I took it all on myself — a long time ago  
so you could be free. Trust Me.

Janina Aza Karpinska is a Christian, award-winning poet, with an M.A. in Creative Writing & Personal Development (Sussex University), and a heart for the broken and misunderstood. Her work has appeared in Heart of Flesh; Drawn to the Light; Three Drops Poetry; Ekphrastic Review; Willawaw Journal, and Poems in the Waiting Room, among others.