Explanation Of Love

Explanation of Love

There is a place where love begins
And a place where love ends.
There is a touch of two hands that foils all dictionaries.
There is a look of eyes fierce
As a big Bethlehem open hearth furnace
Or a little green-fire acetylene torch.
There are single careless bywords portentous
As a big bend in the Mississippi River.
Hands, eyes, bywords–
Out of these love makes battlegrounds and workshops.
There is a pair of shoes love wears
And the coming is a mystery.
There is a warning love sends
And the cost of it is never written till long afterward.
There are explanations of love in all languages
And not one found wiser than this:
There is a place where love begins
And a place where love ends—
And love asks nothing.

Carl Sandburg