The Essence Poem by Barry Middleton

the essence is not love
love does not redeem

poets find the core
revolving in a dream

the grand plans of man
golden universal gods

philosophers and kings
the conquerors of odds

imagination's marrow
is all that we invoke

the evil and the good
of the existential joke

art and gracefulness
appreciation of beauty

the nurturing mother
the naiveté of duty

we think and it becomes
whether love or hate

a paradise in misty fog
or hell's sulfurous gate