Love is too unkind for me I don't think I was meant to be Part of a duo, one half of a pair With all the heartbreak and all the care. If I don't unpack the groceries, who is to say? Or what if I don't clean the toilet every day? Or what if I leave my clothes on the floor Or come in a little late through the door? Do you think my bed is cold? I have a cat, And a dog. Oh yes, it's true I'm fat And plain and without charm. They don't care. They give me affection for the cost of good fare. They don't nag, they don't turn elswhere, They know my heart and that keeps them here. So what I see of love and loss and agony Is that my life is not so bad, as I see What I lack, I can live without. I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Is it love so true if love so easily leaves? It seems broken hearts are constant fees Of passions born hot but dying cold Then many still are alone growing old. No, my friends, I think I will forget The hunt for what I've not found yet, What was never mine to find, Because for me love is just too unkind. ******************* Sorry for the double posting...I had a second thought about one of the lines. Not important. It would be so nice to have an edit funciton.

This piece is poignant and touching - it would be impossible not to empathise with the subject of the poem, even if there is still a slight temptation to say "If there's something you want, never mind the cost - go for it!". {Though I know life is NEVER that simple}.

Life offers different experiences and no experience fits all. Some people find one love for their whole life. Some people find multiples loves. Some people find love and lose it and never find it quite the same again. And some people are destined to be unloved all our lives. I think writers owe it to human experience to explore the variations. We've had a lot on the celebration of love, and the abandonment of love...I thought it was time for another view. That's all.

And "going for it" is not always an option. People who have choices always said that. People without choices know better.

I said I might be tempted to say that ... but I wouldn't because I know [believe me, I do know!] that all too often we have to play the hand we are dealt. The overriding feeling is, as I said, one of empathy.

D you know me and longer verse, but not bad for a non-poet. I'm going to look at the challenge poems the next few days,but I'll give it a "friendly look" after that.

That's okay, tjames. I was just doodling.

Sometimes the best works are the raw scribbles while the polished works are ground down to tasteless paste. As with a lot of things, I think you're being too hard on yourself. And yes, I hear a lot of people cry, "Edit Button! Edit Button! My kingdom for an Edit Button!" Wish I could help on that part. ;-)

LOL, Crescent. It would help if I proofed before I pasted!!! In the case of the subject heading, however, it was just not paying attention (not a good thing in a writer). I know I'm not the equal of the real poets on this list...I post for the thought rather than the words for that reason. At my birthday dinner, a friend of mine and I were talking about the dearth of men in our age group and, as we talked, we laughed about the fact that having a relationship at this point in our lives would be more trouble than it was worth. I didn't do well communicating the tone of the poem because the speaker is not a sad spinster lady mooning at her window. She's just decided that it's possible to have a life without the agonies (as well as the joys) of love (in a relationship sense). But that is one of my many weaknesses as a poet...I cannot provide the right tone in words. Oh well. Onward. Thank you for taking the time to read it. I value your comments, as I do anyone who takes the time to post (even when I sound cranky).