What is love?

[MIKE444]

Love is just a state of mind,
We enter it as if we’re blind.
Love is death love is life,
Love is trouble love is strife.

Love is something we cannot see,
Yet from love we cannot flee.
Love is the reason for life itself,
Sometimes we leave love on the shelf.

Love is the very air that we breathe,
Love is something that we bequeath.
Love is happy love is sad,
Love can sometimes drive us mad.

Love is seldom easily attained,
Sometimes solid and sometimes strained.
Love is distant love is near,
Sometimes obscure and sometimes clear.

Love is funny love is sad,
Sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Love is simple love is plain,
Sometimes mad and sometimes sane.

Love is black love is white,
Sometimes wrong and sometimes right.
Love is cold love is hot,
Sometimes hidden but not forgot.

What is love I hear you ask?
To answer this would be a task.
For just as love is not constrained
Love just cannot be explained.

[blazeofglory]

Love is just a state of mind,
We enter it as if we’re blind.
Love is death love is life,
Love is trouble love is strife.

Love is something we cannot see,
Yet from love we cannot flee.
Love is the reason for life itself,
Sometimes we leave love on the shelf.

Love is the very air that we breathe,
Love is something that we bequeath.
Love is happy love is sad,
Love can sometimes drive us mad.

Love is seldom easily attained,
Sometimes solid and sometimes strained.
Love is distant love is near,
Sometimes obscure and sometimes clear.

Love is funny love is sad,
Sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Love is simple love is plain,
Sometimes mad and sometimes sane.

Love is black love is white,
Sometimes wrong and sometimes right.
Love is cold love is hot,
Sometimes hidden but not forgot.

What is love I hear you ask?
To answer this would be a task.
For just as love is not constrained
Love just cannot be explained.

This is indeed a good definition of love, and of course a classical one. Yet love is the opposite of hate is, and love is not without strife and friction. We idelaize love, but love is different than what we take it to be. When you fall fro a beautiful girl, can you make sure that it is sheer love and nothing else? Revisit this domain too.

[Pendragon]

Once again Mike, I think your poem is good, but could be better. You write in rhyme, (I'm one to talk, I have more sonnets on here than anyone else, I know) but rhyme needs to flow easily not be stilted. By this I mean you should never reach a point in the poem where it seems you had to change words to make the rhyme.

Now using your theme of Love Is...

Love is the empty feeling of butterflies, the hope that you won't get stage fright;
Love makes you a helpless fool, love also can make a coward into a brave man.
Love tiptoes sofly in the twilight, love marches to the beat of its own drum.
Love is the longing, and the fullfillment, love is a hand to hold when sunset fades to black.

That is unrhymed poetry, giving you more leeway with your words. Try it.

Pen

[MIKE444]

Once again Mike, I think your poem is good, but could be better. You write in rhyme, (I'm one to talk, I have more sonnets on here than anyone else, I know) but rhyme needs to flow easily not be stilted. By this I mean you should never reach a point in the poem where it seems you had to change words to make the rhyme.

Now using your theme of Love Is...

Love is the empty feeling of butterflies, the hope that you won't get stage fright;
Love makes you a helpless fool, love also can make a coward into a brave man.
Love tiptoes sofly in the twilight, love marches to the beat of its own drum.
Love is the longing, and the fullfillment, love is a hand to hold when sunset fades to black.

That is unrhymed poetry, giving you more leeway with your words. Try it.

Pen

Pendragon,

Being new to the world of poetry my understanding of good poetry is minimal and I much appreciate your advice.
I have quite a way to go before I could even contemplate writing poetry of the caliber that you produce.
I usually write my poems from the top of my head and usually within less than half an hour and sometime in as little as ten minutes.
I have very little time to write my poetry, (two jobs) but hope with time that I can advance to being able to put some real thought into writing free verse.
one day my friend, one day.
I thank you for your advice.
Regards....Tom.

[AuntShecky]

Rhyme is an extremely useful device when shaping a poem.
If nothing else, it helps the writer get the rhythm right; it can help him when a line or two doesn't scan. (Of course, I'm not talking about Ogden Nash.)

Specifically, about this particular piece, and I don't want this criticism to be taken offensively: love is as appropriate subject as any for a lyric, but with any topic it's important to remember that the writer has to say something new, something that hasn't already been written a thousand times before. OR-- if you want to reiterate what has already been said about the subject, he should try a NEW way or a NEW form.

The piece in question very much reminded me of the song
"Love" by Cole Porter. It was a hit by Lena Horne, Nat King Cole,Billie Holiday, and many other great artists. Do an internet search of that song if you have time -- then listen to how Cole's lyrics put a brand-new (for the time) spin on the mysterious topic of Love.

I hope you will keep writing!

Sincerely,
Auntie

[juggalomaniac]

I really like this peice it really defines the better quality of love.

[Night Closet]

I loved it ...It's really expressive....Yeah ! i think love is all what you said ...Yet i think there is some more left for us to add...Nice poem .

[Zelly]

I like the poem, but I feel the need to admit that when I read the title, my mind jumped to the Cher song...

[andrew23]

Love is the empty feeling of butterflies, the hope that you won't get stage fright;
Love makes you a helpless fool, love also can make a coward into a brave man.
Love tiptoes sofly in the twilight, love marches to the beat of its own drum.
Love is the longing, and the fullfillment, love is a hand to hold when sunset fades to black.



That was beautiful Pen. It was honest, truthful, and beautiful. I felt what you mean by "love" in that simple unrhymed piece. In the end, a good poem doesn't look like poetry at all. It will be beauty in poetry's mask..

And you're right, the OP's poem is somehow made to force some rhymes. So in the end, truth doesn't come out, and honesty is lost. As you said, it must come smoothly and naturally, and unrestricted to rhymes. That is indeed true..