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It's a strange thing
what love transforms
and what it leaves the same

It's a strange thing
what despair consumes
and what it leaves behind

It's a strange thing
what time destroys
and what it leaves to grow

It's a strange thing
what life demands
and what it leaves to chance

It's a strange thing
that I should care
that I should yearn to grasp

and a strange thing
that in the end
I will die with empty hands.

                                                                         -- Jen Cole Wright, 2003