I do not understand love, as mightily as I strive, it is at once real and tangible, yet dimensionless, for like space and time can not be measured, nor truly comprehended, it can only be known.
We talk of showing our love yet it is invisible, and cannot be seen, we demonstrate our love through our acts, but they can not be described,
it may be offered but can not be owned,
love can only be felt.
Love is not shared, it is freely given, it is not a barter to be traded, nor bargained
it does not cause joy or gladness, nor pain nor sorrow,
love is joy, sorrow its absence, love is love,
nothing more.
We search our lives for love, but it is not found, for it lies not without but within us,
for it is self, the most difficult of all things to know, ourselves,
given freely, love asks for nothing,
but to be accepted.
I do not understand love as mightily as I strive,
it stretches our emotional fibers past their limits,
it takes joy beyond pains threshold, then pain to joy, it is wondrous,
tho never understood.
Mark Weatherton is an Emeritus Professor in the UAMS College of Health Professions.