Journey of Words

When musing on the theme of love
Avoid poems of faithful dogs
Affectionate cats
Or some perfect spirit up above
Big sister, baby brother
Uncles, aunts
Mum's ex-lover

Some will have told they love a thing
Like late-grandma's white gold wedding ring
A car, a boat, an aeroplane
They'll wring words dry when they explain

Tear ducts will fill as saccharin flows
Some may e'en sense a runny nose
While they type, or scratch out dross
In vain attempts to express the loss
First felt at age of ten
When some guinea pig never woke again

Or might it be the wooden bench
Where they first got into a clinch
It was not the romance that they value
But the appeal to the ego
The time, the place
The circumstance
Where emotions became conflated
With first thoughts of being mated

Defining love is a thankless task
So why do poets still flail at it? You ask
It's easier to emote on pain and grief
Than distill the joy that true love brings

What love is it that merits rhyme?
Could it be
Love of self and too much time?

~
n.b. NaPoWriMo 2026 Day 15 prompt: Love, but not lurve.

CLP 15/03/2026