What is Love?

Love is like…
Oil,
That plumps us up,
Dilates the eyes,
Puts glow in the skin,
And makes us see other kinds of beauty.
Love is like…
A modern invention,
And largely an obsession.
But perhaps we might ask
What such love should be.
Love should be…
An act of will,
Of passionate patience – flexible,
Cunning,
Constant,
Proof against roasting and freezing,
Drought and flood,
And the shifting climates of mood and age.
In order to make it succeed,
One must lose all preconceptions.
Must be built…
On truth,
Not dream,
And the knowledge of what we are,
Rather than what we think of.
The sum of love is…
That it should be a meeting place,
An interlocking of nerves and senses,
A series of constant surprises
And renewals of each others moods.
Best of all…
A steady building,
From inside out.
For the wholeness, love…
Must be deeper,
To adapt to the worlds shifting sands,
Able to withstand disaffections and occasional betrayals,
Sufficiently constant to create its own area of sacred quiet,
And also strong enough in its toughest test,
And sink the best of its virtues in it.
Love is…
Not merely the indulgence of ones personal taste buds;
It is also the delight indulging another’s.
Also, in remembering simplicities such as…
Tenderness and care,
In taking some pleasure in the act of adoring
And being content now and then
To lie by ones sleeping love
And to shield ones eye from the sun.