What Is Love Exactly? Poem by Lois Read

St. Paul said
'Faith, Hope and Love abode. these three
but the greatest of these is love'
words quoted at weddings over and over.

So what is love exactly?

Philo, Agape, Eros
all words defining love.

The dictionary says
'To like or desire enthusiastically, delight in

A zero score in tennis.

Romantic love. Mother love.
Love of God. Love of country.
Love of chocolate....

Song writers dote on it.
Preachers promote it.
Poets extol it,
'Love makes the world go round>'

yet how do I know it?

A flush to the face
a heart swelled to bursting
a nameless song I hum while walking
a kind of general largeness

symptoms all, of the state
of being in love

but what is love exactly?

I think it must be a thing like light
energies pulsing beyond my knowing
informing my days
propelling me this way and that

beyond definition, beyond comprehension
Abiding, greater even
than hope and faith.