Love?

I recently challenged my ninth grade composition students with a poetry assignment. It was actually a very simple assignment and they were allowed 25 minutes to write.

When I mentioned "poetry" a few looked at me with glassy eyed stares. I explained the challenge and presented them with a few models - we brainstormed abstract nouns and they put pencil to paper; well, some put pencil to paper; let's just say everyone put pencil to paper -eventually.

One of my students chose to write about love. She wrote about that "special feeling" in great detail. I thought how love is so different from that glamorized televised version that pervades the lives of young people.

and so I write my love offering ~

give me love,
stable and true,
more like
Ruth and Boaz
or
Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon
or even
the faithful friendship of
Sam Gamgee and Frodo

rather than
Heathcliff and Catherine

love
not destructive or selfish,
but gracious and preserving
if necessary, at great cost to oneself
understanding
honor and
courage, flying
in the face of defeat
but nevertheless

flying

give me love
unwavering and steady
seeking to bless for the glory
of blessing
overcoming unimaginable
obstacles

so Jacob served seven years
for Rachel
and they seemed to him
but a few days
because of his love for her

love - one syllable
with more transformative power
than any other noun

young girl,
love is
so much more than
a feeling