When someone we don't know rejects us,

            it's a quite simple thing not to care;

we don't know them, and they don't know us

            so the barbs simply fall from the air.

When those whom we know suddenly spurn us,

            it hurts, but the pain's bearable;

they didn't know us well, so why should we fail

            to see it as not so terrible?

But when those whom we love turn away,

            the damage takes so long to mend;

baring secrets of heart, suddenly find ourselves apart,

            mere flotsam on the wave of devastation.

I said I was glad I didn't tell you

            that night when you first turned aside;

I would have felt like a fool, but then, all lovers do

            so my secrets I just kept inside.

Now the anguish I feel from my knowing

            that my past which I revealed to you

was the cause of you leaving again, my 1N

            - curse I this tongue that told True.

Still, your sweet soul deserved nothing

            but truth; I regret not my confession.

I hoped you'd want me and could somehow believe

            that I'd never repeat those transgressions.

I know you need time just to think,

            and I know you've likely left me forever,

but I wish Heaven and Man somehow believed in a man

            who had grown, learned, and would harm no one ever.

Yet I deal with this pain, blessed for all that I gained:

            I was loved – but for a moment – by you;

and I gained self-respect, for my reaction shows best:

            even when judged wrongly, it's not in me to betray or hurt you

now,

or ever.