h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You wear your heart on your sleeve
well on your page at the very least
you write of absence with feeling
letting the world see your hurt
that is brave

you talk of ghosts and I think "lost souls"
I lie with you both and cringe
somehow there is nothing between you
never was? where did it go?
does it matter?

You write and I sit spellbound
watching the story of my life unfold
distance is the enemy and no words of consolation
can make me miss her less
I long to make it easy on myself

But still you write, of stars and I think
"ships that pass in the night"
"leaving me in her wake" and I want you to know
I have feelings too
and sometimes they come out like this

A poem in reply to a poem. I am deeply moved. No-one has ever responded like that before.

Thank you very much.

And yes - wherever there has been love, it matters that it was there, and it matters when it has gone.

Love is - and will always be - the most important force in the universe. One day a qantum physicist will discover that the fourth (?) force - the one they are all looking for, which will make the equations come right - is love. And they will look at the screen of their computer and wonder whether or not to publish. (And maybe this has already happened? - Who knows).

And once again, thank you for your poem. And you are right, we all lead each others' lives, and there is nothing new under the sun.

Ben

Love is all there is. The Greeks had about 5 words for Love although I can't remember them all the ones that stick in my mind are Eros (romantic) Agape (love of the world, mankind) and Filia (love of your brother /sister, friends, relatives)

I know myself I've felt different types of Love for different people.

I'm a little confused about falling in love do you think it's real ?, could it ever last at the initial intensity.

I "loved" your Poems, I love poetry, in a way I must love you, does that sound corny?

Please write some more

Is falling in love real?

Well, sadly, I don't think it is. Falling in love is an evolutionary mechanism to make sure that babies have two devoted parents for the first 18-24 months of their lives. After that, the toddlers are alive, and it really does not matter - evolutionarily speaking - whether their parents are besotted with each other, so long as enough adults (parents or grandparents) are besotted with the child.

But love is real, whatever kind of love it is. So when 'being in love' fades, there is still the sexual spark, as well as the softer, and maybe deeper feelings one has for a beloved spouse. It is only when one of those two goes that the relationship is in trouble.

Hell, if I knew the answers I would not be writing about lost love.

Take care

Ben

Hi Ben

Thanks for your views on love, it mirrors those of Scott M Peck in "The Road Less Travelled" did you get it from there? or from the "school of life" ?.

I feel the same way about lost love, I wonder what it was all about? did I grow ?, did I learn anything ? why do I keep repeating the same stuff? - these are rhetorical questions.

Thanks again Ben

Skelligsbro

Yes, I got that from Scott Peck, but it makes perfect sense to me. I find his books rather chilling, but full of truth. I am not sure where my copy is, it may be with a friend.

I find his comments on love pretty bleak, but - as I said - truthful. There is more to love than being in love, though that feels so good. My friend Ulrike, on the other hand finds his comments liberating. But she has been in love since reading them, and I have not.

I started to feel that delicious and enticing suspension of critical faculties earlier this year, but fortunately sense - and my sense of self preservation - kicked in. How much I owe that to personal maturity, and how much I owe to Dr Peck, I do not know. I do know it saved me (and maybe others) embarrasment, heartache and pain.

However, it leaves me not knowing if I will be dazzled by the magic again, now I know how the trick is done.

*hoping the magic will happen again, someday*
*maudlin and slightly drunk, this evening*

Ben

I just had Stage 2 of my appreciation of your Poems I keep going back and re-reading them. They are so deep !

Please don't give up on Love it is out there, it hits you when you least expect it, and sometimes passes by you when you most want it, I can't figure it out. But I still hope and dream and Poems like yours inspire me.

Thanks again Ben

Hesitating to join a conversation...

I enjoyed your poem, but I find it hard to write anything so enriching (there was sadness in it but richness as well).

But you prompted me to throw in couple of poems (http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A642430), in case anybody's interested.

I am interested , thanks for stopping by, your views on Love would be most welcome can you help us to make any sense of it

Love's hard. Love hurts. Love's fun. The Greeks were joking if they thought they could reduce it to five types.

Hi all! Hi Mund. Would you like your poems to be included in the Lost Poetry Office, or are you happy with them as "free-range" verses?

Lost love! A tough topic ...... here's my 10 cents' worth on the subject ....

From knowledge acquired a long time ago, but only recently realised: If love does fade, and the relationship dies, then it was not well founded in the first place. Maybe it was "comfort", or "not being alone" rather than real passion and love?

From recent events: Keep the faith. Even if it's a long time after the flame dies away, meeting the right person will set it going again - perhaps stronger than ever before because of what you've learned in the meantime.

Hi Mund, Hi Kes, good to see you both again.

Mund, I loved your first poem (I could see it happening before my eyes). The second one baffled me, but it is early in the morning, and I am a Ben of Very Little Brain at the moment.

Kes, maybe I am still to close to my marriage, but I know what we had was love, and it was very good for ten years or so. But people change. If I met him now I would not fall in love with him, so is it any wonder we fell out of love? But what we had was real.

Ben

Ben,

I'm not surprised you found the second one a bit hard to chew. I'll switch it to another page with the sequence it came from.

Mund

I'm not sure my stuff is suitable for the lost poetry office. I have copies, so I know it's mine. I'm sending it out into the world because I hope it's some use to people. But I'm also worried that the BBC will claim copyright (which I've given them by taking part in all this).

Just think. When I'm 92 I might want to publish an anthology of my life's work. In what sense does the BBC (or its degenerate descendants) own rights to my work?

Amyway, let's be brave and open. I now have poems at the following addresses:

A parent's poem - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A642430
Human/computer sonnets - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A642746
Under the knife - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A642755

Amyway? Not too sure what it means, but it sounds good. Somewhere in the meaning of liff?

Ben, your poem gave me chills! I went through a period after my husband died, of getting involved with a very nice man (who is still my friend) who was not someone I could love. Your poem pegged the sentiments perfectly; I have spent years trying to untangle the errors from that time, but also miss them, if that makes sense. Company was all I had.

Again, you have a true gift. Thank you.

SC