I was afraid to love for many years now, because I loved too much, because I loved freely and gave freely to those who did not return that love. I closed my heart to love, to sadness and sorrow, to joy and laughter. I stayed, locked away in my safe place, unknowing, unfeeling, unmoved by the beauty of the world that passed me by. I walked alive but unseeing through life with a heart no longer beating. Then, one day, I found myself loving again, this time knowing what love should be. This love brings a oneness that has made me whole. It is a mysterious mystical love and I have resigned myself to the knowledge that few will understand it. I will never stop listening to the voice of this love, but will walk through the mysteries to find it and embrace it with all that I have. There is joy and sadness with this love and there is comfort and caring It brings a rapture that fills my spirit and sings in my soul echoed by the sound of my beating heart.