Another English Project

Sweet Love

By Josh Watkins

Can anyone actually define love?

I don’t think so,

Because love comes in many ways and forms,

From loving a pet dog to loving her.

Love is what makes the world spin,

Love is what populates the Earth.

Love can be as big as the sky,

Or as small as a baby’s heart.

A love like Romeo and Juliet is true,

A love that will even go through Dante’s hell.

A love like Oedipus Rex is unfortunate,

A love fated to be, but cruel none the less.

To me, love is how much a man cares about a woman,

Or how much a father takes care of his son,

Or how much a brother is a brother,
Or even a grandfather to grandchild.

Love is not like the murder if Julius Caesar at the hand of Brutus,

Love is not like the one-night-stand of Paris and Helen,

Nor is love like the angry Hera and the sex-happy Zeus,

Love is not even like the marriage of Tom and Daisy Buchanan.

Love can be as free as a bird,

As fast as the speed of light,

As hot as the sun,

Even as sweet as cherry pie.

When Jesus was crucified,

There was no love from His people.

And when Huck Finn was beaten by Pap,

There was no love there either.

There is no love for the devil,

Who is frozen in hell.

Nor love for a person who tells someone he will always be there,

Then turns around and runs.

Love is how I feel when I look at her,

Love is how amazing she makes me feel,

Love is that smile on her face to show me she cares,

Love is her, keeping me on my feet and on my way.

That my friend is sweet love.

I have a lot of commentary for this one so bear with me.This was another project for my 10th grade English class (an extra credit one believe it or not) that had a criteria to it. We had to write a poem (obviously) which referenced at least 10 things we learned or read about throughout the year. All you English majors should enjoy this because looking at this piece, English was quite entertaining. 

My ten references were Romeo and Juliet, Dante's Divine Comedy (twice), Oedipus Rex, Julius Caesar, the Trojan War, Greek Mythology, the Great Gatsby, the Bible, and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Now here's all the interesting stuff. Remember how I said this was extra credit? Yeah it was worth a hundred friggen points! But to earn those points, what did I have to do? Follow the above mentioned criteria AND read it in front of all the other participating students. Why is that so bad? Just look at what I wrote. I wrote a semi-romantic piece with weird references woven in while being a single guy who was writing about something I hadn't fully comprehended at the time. Why did I do it?

I did it because I am a romantic (duh I write poetry) and because I have a daring side to me. This was the first time I wrote and read something romantic to a crowd of people and it wouldn't be my last (see FUTURE post about poem written during the 2011-2012 Great Lakes Christian Internship). I had a number of reasons for doing so. 1) To get the 100 extra credit points of course! 2) To test my hand at romantic writing. 3) To honestly put a feeler out there and see what single ladies would respond (ahh the foolishness of a slightly desperate high school student. Thank goodness nothing came out of it).

I have kept this piece hidden for a long time because I am not completely proud of it, but hey every decent writer has his off days and who knows, inspiration for future works can even come from the mistakes of old. Oh and I got 85 extra credit points for this. Not too shabby.

DISCLAIMER: The last verse was written based upon what I had hoped love will be when I actually have that special someone. I was not in a relationship at that time (see point 3). It was also to give that "Awww" moment to gain more bonus points. I hope y'all got a kick out of this one.