L.O.V.E.

Pete Kimbis

What Does Love Mean to You?”

My teacher asked me,

“What does love mean to you?”

“Why was she asking me such a simple question?” I asked myself.

“There must be a reason. I trust her. I accept the question,” I exhaled.

I thought. I thought. I thought, and yet I didn’t have an answer.

“How could I not know something so essential for a good life?” I asked myself.

The question, “What is love?” I can answer.

I use the word Love frequently, yet I do not know what it means to me.

“Did I know, but I was unable to put the intangible into words?” I questioned myself.

“Stop. That is an easy philosophical out, an escape from the real question. I do not want to avoid this arrow,” I whispered as my eyes closed into night.

I was stumped by this seemingly simple question.

The next morning, the question grew deeper. No, that is not true.

I could see the subject more clearly.

No, that is not accurate.

I allowed the question to penetrate.

I did not block this gentle truth seeking arrow sinking, pressing, and piercing into the soft flesh of my heart.

That was a week ago.

I believe the Divine is Love. Love is the energy of life and creation. Love passes through and between connecting all things. Love is a physical wave. It is witnessed in the eyes of lover and beloved.

“Yet, what does it mean to me?”

The question remains unanswered. It is a guide. It is one continual answer on its own. It continually invites and welcomes imagination. It is both a question to remain open, and it is a request of me to remain open.

If there is an answer to this riddle, it is found within, and also hidden behind, the word I.