Are you strong enough?

So, I wrote this a while ago, but I have been thinking about it a lot.  I thought I would put it here, so I can read it every now and then...

Are you strong enough to be my man?

Are you strong enough to realize that when my light is shining its brightest, yours is not diminished one iota?

Are you strong enough to encourage that light, fanning the flame and rejoicing in the warmth, rather than trying to smother it because it can be threatening in its might?

Are you strong enough to accept that I can survive without your care?

Are you strong enough to accept that while I don’t need you, I want you, and want is far superior to need because it implies a conscious consent of the will?

Are you strong enough to know that every bit of control I yield to you is the highest compliment I can possibly pay to who you are?

Are you strong enough to accept what I give without trying to greedily take more?

Are you strong enough to realize that patient hands and eyes and lips will lure me far more readily than force, because controlled power is infinitely more attractive than powerful displays?

Yes, you can force your will on me, but at that point, who I am will be driven so far into hiding that you will no longer recognize me. I am a survivor and I know how to protect myself from force.  I have had to do it far too often.

Are you strong enough to reach past anger and fear and defensiveness to touch the hidden quivering spirit inside of me?

Are you strong enough to wait, hand extended, for me to place my willing hand in yours? For I will reward that patience by putting that tiny flame that is my deepest self into your care, knowing that all this time it has been protected for you and I am at last safe to put it into your keeping.   

I am power and I am strength, but I am also fragile and delicate, not easily made vulnerable except by someone with that quiet, perceptive maleness for which that I long.

So, tell me, are you strong enough?