L-O-V-E

L-O-V-E

Search distant east to farthest west, from highest heaven to lowest hell 
no other word has suffered more, purloined of home,  bereft befell
a skeleton, but lines and arcs, naked stripped of all but shell;  
an L, an O, a V, an E, tossed from a cup would serve as well.

Careless used, like pocket pennies, lost in cracks, on sidewalk's curb;
in songs abused, in prose ill-used, exploited by crude billboard blurb,
by grammar shunned, defined like stew, foggy noun or murky verb,
four letters that can soften hearts can also war to hearts disturb.

Agape, eros, philia, storge, attrition Greeks try hold at bay
to curtail lack of definition, four classes helped delay decay.
Yet noble English blinds her eye while lays to context final say
and renders hearer lost at sea, no anchor, compass, or charted way.

Passion? Fondness? Feeling? Ardor? Selfish lust? Selfless bequest?
“My dear", "my darling", "my one devotion"; or "object of my craving chest"?
“I love my wife”, “I love my dog”, “the love of money gives no rest”.
Is it "in the air"? Does it "hurt" or "stink"? Or is it just which serves me best?

“Love your enemy”. “Love your neighbor”. “Love is all”. “Love is myth”.
“If you can’t be with the one you love, then just love the one you’re with”
“Love is blind”. “Love yourself”. “The world needs love, and that forthwith”.
The Apostle John unabashed spoke “God is Love!”; a monolith.

“I love you” chant we off to bed, or hanging up our phone’s handset;
But why? Is love oft spoke a proof, a verity lest they forget?

In THIS way God so Loved the world, sent sinless Son to pay my debt,  
gifting righteousness and life, His ACT His stainless epithet.