I’m scared to know love.
Judgment seems softer
& warmer to lay into,

Love is not void of judgment
but when judgment is void of love
the soul sinks,

It’s not painful to know love
but it is pAiNfUl to feel it
To know the Queen could take every pence
& you’d pick up my pence,
a pile of petals

It doesn’t hurt to feel this love but
to know that I have not always felt it,
not a centripetal force

Judgment seems close,
I’m scared to know the difference,
I’m scared to know…

---

Written by Jordan Strain. Jordan Strain is the co-founder and co-president of Vocal Chords Journal. She is a senior at GW studying political science and psychological brain sciences. Her special interests include sewing, writing poetry sporadically, & reading academic nonfiction.