I do not forsake my opinions

Nor do I feel need to come to their defense

I will not erect ramparts to protect them

I will take your barbs

Take the sting of your venom

Take the cuts and bruises

From your razor-sharp sarcasm

This I do with a smile

Biting my tongue

For fear of regrettable retort

Absorbing in silence

Your contrary views

Out of respect for you

Out of a right to form your thesis

As I would expect be offered me

Shocked and dismayed

It was not

This I will shoulder with grace

Never to diminish my love for you

Regardless of our divergence

These are merely words

At times fiery and inflammatory

Still…only words

That will never divide

~~ D. R. DiFrancesco ~~