I don’t really know what romantic type love means? I love my children but I don’t always like what they do, who they are while in the process of working stuff out. I allow them the mistakes because I know they are still learning. I love my parents but I don’t like some of the things that happened in my childhood but I dont hold it against them because I know they did the best they could. I love my cats but I dont like it when they bring home dead mouches. I forgive them because I know it’s their natural instinct.
The poem below is something that made some sense of what love means to me. I first read it way back in 1985.
A blade of grass
You ask for a poem.
I offer you a blade of grass.
You say it is not enough.
You asked for a poem.
I say this blade of grass will do.
It has dressed itself in frost.
It is more immediate
Than any image of my making.
You say it is not a poem.
It is a blade of grass and grass
It is not quite good enough.
I offer you a blade of grass.
You are indignant.
You say it is too easy to offer a blade of grass.
It is absurd.
Anyone can offer a blade of grass.
You ask for a poem.
And so I wrote you this tragedy about
How a blade of grass
Becomes more and more difficult to offer.
And about how as you grow older
A blade of grass
Becomes more difficult to accept.
Love Poems By Brian Patten
