A Poem by Marvin X: What is Love

What is Love by Marvin X

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What is Love


What is love
only kisses hugs
what is love
only meetings of minds
what about times
when minds
do not meet

is love
not present
in the air
in the blood
of loving souls
too ignorant
to know the test
of love
the many ways
it strives to be and not be
yet
is always and forever
not always tender
sometimes
rough and sharp
like a razor
cutting to the heart



love is pain
we take to grow
be strong again
tears in the night
alone again
we find ourselves
wondering if love
was even real
yet it was
if we see
if we look
beyond romantic notions
of everything is cool
always with love
but we know
the blues of love
when we miss the words
from lips so tender with truth
but we miss them
in haste to be the authority on love
yet love has been around
since eternity
and will stay
when lovers have gone away
it will stay
in spite of all the tears
fights
verbal bouts
come backs
gimme my keys
why don't you call
don't you still care
why did you go
do you really love her
or really love him
after all the time we shared
how could you do this to me
after all I did for you in the night
what is love
sometimes we must enjoy the hurt pain
to grow
be wise again
do it better next time
correct mistakes
try again this time
with God
in the center of things
but try
for love is precious
time is short
life must be lived
with joy
somehow
through it all
let joy arise
take control of love.
--Marvin X
8/3/04
 from Land of My Daughters, poems, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 2005