L  O  V  E
by C. S. Lewis                                                  

Love's as warm as tears, 
          Love is tears: 
Pressure within the brain, 
Tension at the throat, 
Deluge, weeks of rain, 
Haystacks afloat, 
Featureless seas between 
Hedges, where once was green 

Love's as fierce as fire, 
         Love is fire: 
All sorts--Infernal heat 
Clinkered with greed and pride, 
Lyric desire, sharp-sweet, 
Laughing, even when denied, 
And that empyreal flame 
Whence all loves came. 
 

  
Love's as fresh as spring, 
          Love is spring: 
Bird-song in the air, 
Cool smells in a wood, 
Whispering "Dare! Dare!" 
To sap, to blood, 
Telling "Ease, safety, rest, 
Are good; not best." 

Love's as hard as nails, 
          Love is nails: 
Blunt, thick, hammered through 
The medial nerves of One 
Who, having made us, knew 
The thing He had done, 
Seeing (what all that is) 
Our cross, and His.
 
Poem from The Visionary Christian edited by Chad Walsh, Collier Books, NY, 1981, page 32
Photo by Neil Carlson, all rights reserved: About 50 miles S.E. of Green River, Utah, August 1997


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