Love as a Light to Guide Us Through These Dark Times

What do we really know of love?

There are so many who have tried to capture the essence of this deceptively simple word,
In songs and poems,
In books and short stories,
In paintings and still-life photographs…

Yet still we fail to fully capture or even grasp,
A depth in words which is so apparent in
The lengths at which we will go to find it even for a moment,
Reaching ever further until we can grab hold of
What is found in the often timid and anxious hands of
Strangers / Acquaintances / Partners
Lovers…
-If we are so bold and lucky-
With whom we fumble about in darkness until
The faintest light can be found
To illuminate the scene as it truly stands before
It flickers and vanishes once more.

How we need love at times;
Yearning and aching,
Crying in the quiet hours of night for…
A brush against the forearm or
A firm embrace,
The sound of a soft whisper in an unguarded ear,
A look from across the room that instantly renders all understanding of distance obsolete,
Anything to bring a spark to
The suffocating and empty void we find ourselves amidst.

We are blessed in that
Love does not demand understanding,
Just as we need not know the intricacies of
Our body’s requirements for nutritional sustenance,
And the contents of that which we consume
To bring satisfaction as such,
Though in both cases,
We are hopefully compelled to learn as best we are able.

For with time and insight we come to see,
That there are many different types of love,
That the lonesome night is vast
And we manners in which we find our way diverse,
As varied as the sensations felt by the hunger of an empty stomach and
The sources from which that hunger is satisfied.

We should seek to find
Our light
And a better awareness of the nature of its radiance,
Not that we might always be found basking in the glow,
But that we might bring more visibility to the world around us,
Discovering as we do how we might serve as a guide to others,
And in doing so lead everyone to a world where we might not feel so alone.