Love Poem: What Is Love? (1973)
Daver Austin Avatar
Written by: Daver Austin

What Is Love? (1973)

OH    NAKED MAN    IN HARMONIA
TELL ME    WHAT IS LOVE

Love is when a sensitive child
Happens on a flowering hillside    and
Cries out with joy

In the blazing eyes of a cat
The eyes only
Be it live
Or photograph

Love’s power is
That it has no secrets
Will allow none

Love will settle on a countenance
And strip it bare
For all the world to see

An old    old man
Given up struggle
Given up thought
Helpless before his maker

Love has no earthly intelligence
But chooses fool
Or Saint alike

Some say love is complexity
But I say that love is simplicity
And draws its power
From contrast with complex things

So simple love
That it brings tears 
Of disbelief

If love is fine
Where love is serf
Just think how great
Where love is king

On this side they call it love
What needs no name
In its kingdom

Love is not a God
It is a helpless thing
Without a power to persuade

Love needs no thought.
Those who think they love
Do not love at all

Think of every worldly set of situations
Thought about    and then
Declare that love is none of these
None of these are love