A maiden fair, perhaps sixteen
travelled much and far between.

The seas, the mountains and sky above
she roamed about to know of love.

Its an uphill task to ferret out love
the mountain said and it is tough

the skies whispered to look for something
as vast as space and more than everything.

Love means endurance said the earth
the throes of pain, the pangs of birth.

Its a flame that burns devours you up
said the sun, and the moon said from above.

It glows and shines for all, its only dreams
the stars said, beyond this world it seems.

The maiden learnt no meaning at all
From all this high falutin talk.

She looked for answers from comely nature.
From the birds and beasts all around her.

The playful wind said its a breeze
that sweeps you up above the trees.

To her its colours the rainbow threw
Love has all shades so many hues.

The birds said its the song we sing
The cheeky bee said its the sting!

The flowers said its a gentle touch
The rose smiled then, its not really such.

Temptation said the snake with a hiss
are you sure you want it little miss?

Frightened she changed her path again
towards people she took her life’s reins.

She went thus forth from door to door.
Of love she learnt here much much more.

A mother says its a feeling deep
that wells up for a child in leaps.

The father says it is protection
the care and safety of the loved one.

The brother says it is a bond
that tied up once cannot be undone.

The sister says it is security
she feels among familial beauty.

The husband says its togetherness
the wife nods joyfully in tenderness.

The son says it is a duty
to earn and care, fulfill with bounty.

The daughter says it breaks her heart
when the time for her comes to part.

The lover says it’s his beloved’s smile
for which he’d travel many a mile.

The maiden fair quite grown up now
knew shades of love, but still somehow

Not satisfied she went on with her journey
To learn some more of love maybe.

The soldier she met said love’s his life
that he gives up when there’s a strife.

The writer said it is words
Which fill his book and make new worlds.

Bridges says the engineer
That connect us to people all dear.

It’s life not death the doctor says
to cure and treat and keep death at bay.

It’s God everywhere says the temple priest
In north or south, in west or east.

The craftsman says artistic skills
the maker builds and watcher thrills.

Music the dancer says and swings
into a rhythm even as the singer sings.

The traveller says that it is travels
A beautiful world filled up with marvels

The player says that love’s a gamble
From heights you can one day tumble.

By now the maiden was really old
But the meaning of love she could not unfold.

This much she’d learnt quite well by now
that love remains a puzzle anyhow.

It’s this for one and that for another
it’s an emotion that compares to no other.

It brings joy and it brings tears
but it also quite dispels our fears.

It can build and it can break
It can give and it can take.

It clings and clutches but yet its free
It’s boundless, on that we all agree

It tags and pulls but doesn’t let go
an experience we must all undergo.

It has light and it has shade
but nobody knows of what it’s made.

She had no answers to really tell
What love was and how deep its well

But this much she did really learn
That love’s not easy it has to be earned.