Love

Joshua Wangia '25

what is love shall it be declared under the morning sun or whispered late under red lights is it sacred or carnal holy or sin can it be defined by words as many as petals or carved into the crude likeness of the author waving curving as the wind blows them is that what stops the heart or causes it to race is this what keeps a mother caring for her infant or what ties one youth to another profound or shallow used and thrown does anyone know the meaning how arrogant the one who proclaims to know the likeness of god love incarnate is it giving all you have or taking without mercy when i see you even after all these years my heart races and stops in an instant god help me avert my eyes or let them meet like leaves blowing in a summer storm like buds on a tree too many to count yet each their own living and dying one in a thousand is found and held is this flower more beautiful growing or cut and held in a home forever why do i wonder so why is this word so important yet meaningless children shout at toys yet uttering to another is a commitment that is hard-broken heart broken takes great souls and drives them down pinned to the rock like so many prometheus given fire from the gods kowtows the greatest the greatest of us like cattle yet played with by the day by all the youth are those who cannot love better off without this flame and flame it is ever changing warmth carrying absolutely essential yet destructive malignant and hungry the yearning of it the way it possesses minds lying in bed waiting for the day to come to see you again is it singular or many once you love them can you ever go back crushes are not the same as this thing that eats me alive at the mention of your name if mere syllables can evoke this devouring yearning beast what then of the presence of the one what is this thing that humanity has inbuilt and worshipped a thousand times over that authors and artists alike have tried to capture and hold like pandora’s hope