What is love? Is it how we learn to trust? Or finally, believing we are enough? Is it the rivers that call me to the ocean? Is it my heart open? or unwavering devotion? Is it patience? Slowly sipping a morning's first coffee The sweetness in a toffee Or a mug of cocoa by the fire? Is it peace and quiet? I think love is this and the moments where we're only building bricks where the full picture is unknown the moments we argue and feel alone as though our hearts may turn to stone where we must postpone our plans for love is also one who rocks the boat as well as what holds you afloat Love is the many notes that form a song Love is seeing when you've been wrong and standing strong in what you know For love is like going with the flow of a river Some days moving quicker some days taking it slow some days crashing against boulders trying to find something left in a fire's smoulders For love is both and all Moments of still, rise and fall Love is both honouring your call and holding space for choice for love does not deny another's voice or truth. Maybe it's better I ask, "who is love?" For love appears to, when you take a look, follow the guidance of its own book with its own agenda that requires you to surrender to receive all it's here to teach both you and me so, if I, from what I've seen through my eyes felt in my body and heard through my ears if I, could get near to answering the question... "who is love?" I'd say a teacher or, perhaps a guide that is absent of all pride only one thing on its mind that you find the experiences for your growth without trying to control that you open to the direction of your soul and that you practice the art of love as a whole not looking for a half that you practice the art of love without a mask being all that you are that you practice the art of love not as a repetition of your past but from the intentions of your heart To remember this practice is a dance that can take many forms Love won't try to make an impression Love will only show you many differing reflections offer you a whole range of suggestions yet love is not a feeling It is a pathway to great healing peeling back the layers that you've made in times you've felt afraid For love also holds pain se par ati on preparation Love is complex & simple So when I ask "who is love?" I can see that love must be the nature of who I am Calling me to return from where I ran Remember the words I sang for love is who we are even when we've drifted far love is a frequency that we re-find when we journey beyond mind beyond time love is a practice to remind ourselves and others to be kind put ourselves in different shoes don't be afraid to loose and fail for love is still with us as we grow old and frail Don't we all have a unique tale of love? Maybe love is many things many stories, different experiences bring different songs we can sing Maybe who love is, is different for us all Yet, I think what unites an understanding of what love is is that it's a practice to both give and receive and still I believe it's inside inside, where we need to send love first so that it's something we learn to share without conditions for love should never create a prison but a space to grow and follow dreams a place to feel seen heard an environment to learn so, maybe, love is all 'who' 'what' 'where' & 'when' the glue that helps us mend then I can't pretend to know the answer to 'who', 'what', 'where', when is love I can simply trust it as my guide and try to practice its true expression through my life for I think, it is love that is the one who is wise. with love, Emma
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A spoken word poem exploring the question "what is love?"