What is Love? (Poems and Short Quotes)

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Illustration: Chris Bodily

I cut like a knife,

I am the risk you are all willing to take.

Yet heal your deepest wounds.

I have a devastating vice,
Yet i am the most powerful virtue.

I comfort the weary heart,
Give breath to the soul,
And light to blinded eye.

I am a necessary evil,
I am what you live for.

I am a fairy tale,
I am a nightmare.

I grant life, yet one with out me, may take their own.

Indulge in me,
Delight in me.
– Love.

Kylie Barber, 19

 

 

My love for you is like an island lost
In tranquil coves across a stormy sea.
I only found this island at great cost,
But since it’s found, it’s all the world to me.
My love for you is like a tower strong
Lost on the forests in the island’s mist.
And though I thought to travel there was wrong
When I entered in, I became so blessed.
My love for you is like a colored string
That winds a tale in tapestries fair set.
And every day it gives my sad soul wings,
Keeping me out of dull Despair’s dark net.
Your love for me is something sweeter still,
That neither pen can write, nor tongue can tell.

Anonymous

 

 

Someone you can be trustworthy with, someone you can rely on and someone who cares about you.

Arcie Aragon, 16

 

 

Something that you can’t live without.

Ruth Estrada, 15

 

 

Love is truly wishing those people you love the best and wanting them to have every opportunity in the world and not being jealous when they get those opportunities.

Jenny Goldsberry, 16

 

 

I think love is caring for someone every moment of their life and being committed to a true relationship—never hurting or being hurt.

Emilio Camara, 15

 

 

Willing to sacrifice anything for another person’s happiness.

Meagan Mondragon, 16

 

 

Passion.

Devree Richart, 16

 

 

It’s a close and unique, personal relationship.

Tyler Romney, 16

 

 

Love is some weird connection that you have with another person that lasts forever.

Cole Jensen, 15

 

 

Two people that truly know about each other and want to know more about each other… And love doesn’t exist in High School. Ever.

Ryan, 18

 

 

Love: It’s a verb

We’re raised from birth to search it’s truth
And told by many it’s quite abstruse

We search and try to understand
Strife and heartbreak leaves a brand

Fear of the word spoke by our tounge
We’re just not sure if they are the one

Confusion sets in as “feelings” aren’t mutual
It seems like the quest isn’t that doable

If only the world knew of it’s power
To choose for themselves instead of cower

Rather than a flaw in this grand creation
Our own commitment is where we’re mistaken

We cause our strife, as we repeat history
Love is the constant, our choice is the mystery

Love is felt when it’s received and given
Meaning that love, is a simple decision

Bryce Jolley, 24

 

 

Untitled

For the beauty of a single flower is great,

But…

The beauty of many is even greater.

Although they have a great and unique beauty,

they do not come close to the beauty

of the girl who is receiving them.

Kelson Barlow, 20

 

 

I’m waiting for the moment when our souls are ready to never be apart.

Elyse Taylor, 26

 

 

To Anonymous-

Past comprehension,

into eternity,

I feel my senses

making the soul gleam.

Tense vibrations

are coursing through,

relaxation

not subtly queued.

I want to scream,

I want to shout,

I fray at the seams

when your not around.

You may not know it

But, this is your love sonnet.

Chris Drew, 24

 

 

Sometimes I turn the corner and i see her as she smiles

and I wish I could close the gap between us that feels like miles

I wish a lot that I knew what she was thinking

so that I could talk to her without my confidence sinking

I’d like to take a shot of courage from a Dixie cup

To kill my inhibitions and shut them up

So I walk to the window to get some fresh air

was that her out-side with the crimson red hair

riding shotgun  in the black range rover

There go my plans for dinner and inviting her over

The web site F-my life is the story of mine

as hard as I try I’m still one step behind

Now I’m left with a mess, dishes array

All I’ve got to show is a wasted day

I’d like to leave on a much better note

So I’ll say never quit, don’t give up hope

And I haven’t given up on the ideal completely

I’m just gonna … wait for the perfect situation to

walk up and greet me…         ?

Damascus David Dawson, 19

 

 

What’s Mine is Yours

I want to press my cheek to yours

when you talk, or chew, or smile,
and hear the echoed waves of thought
that sound between your ear and mine.
I want to seal your lips with mine
and taste the words unspoken;
whisper sweetly through your teeth,
inhale your lungs with mine.
I want to hold your hand in mine
till creases fuse and knuckles knot;
trade you hearts, dress in your skin,
and trace your bones with mine.

I want to sync my gaze with yours
and never blink again
to witness as you live
the matrix
of your life becoming mine.

Emily Fairchild

 

 

One Last Hoorah

barefoot the entire night

I have shoes

but this night calls for freedom

and a short ruffled skirt

and a white flowy top

I feel infinite

and this night is mine, mine, mine.

a night that brings old jokes

and old lovers

and a suffocating reminder

of how my life used to be.

but I don’t want to think about that.

Yet in walks a part of my past

disheveled brown hair

familiar half smile

and the bluest eyes

how could I forget those?

he greets me the way he always did,

a simple, sincere

“Miss Cannon.”

and I’m reminded how good I once had it.

And I know this night

that is still mine

won’t end in those eyes

in those arms

with the only guy who has ever

“got” me.

it will end in the indifferent arms

of a warm body

who smells like cigarettes & stale beer.

Kelly Cannon, 24

 

 

Untitled.

The first time we’d conversed I didn’t even know your name.

How could I have been so oblivious to the new light you’d shed on me?

I was blinded by the glare on my window,

enough to make me forget to let in your fresh air.

Now that I know who you are in your heart of hearts, I’ve fallen for you. Sing me a lullaby, I’ll sing the requiem of a life I’ve left behind.

I’ve changed for the better and it’s because of you.
The music flowing from my fingertips intertwines with the sunlight rising in your eyes.

The tune matches the scene before me perfectly,

and I’m overwhelmed in love and song.

Sincerely,
McKenzie Renee, 19

 

 

Falling

She’s gravity’s pride and joy.

Falling is her name.

Many overlook her beauty,

Saying, “Her result is a shame”.

She’s is not a broken leg,

Or the scattered remains of a plane,

For that, falling is not responsible,

But she gets most of the fame.

No, Falling lives midway down the slide,

Right before the plastic ends.

And flings from the rope toward lake,

Children, who she sends.

From the clouds through the air

She follows every last drop.

She lives in the moment before,

Never touching the ground, never to stop.

She lives in the moment before,

As the pillows approach with care,

And appears in the delicate feathers,

Until one is taken out of the air.

She lives in the moment before,

When celebrity of spheres, has yet,

To decide this time for certain,

If it will go through the net.

She’s gravity’s pride and joy, yes

Falling is her name.

She lives in the moment before.

The most beautiful of dames.

Tiffany Thatcher, 21