Exposed in the cold

In our world there are many ideas and experiences to describe love. Some say it is a feeling. Others have argued that the former claim is lacking and say that love is a verb (something done). Some, esspecially those in literature, seem to see love as a deep power, the most powerful thing. For examaple, in our reading, Pi kept on loving, and was saved.

Since love is so multi-tiered, any comment on it can be enlightening. Hayden's poem seems to bring to the table a lesson about what love is, how it is a verb and a power. The word 'too' is used at the begining to expose the fathers sacrifice. He sacrificed not only during the work week, but on the day when nobody else did. He chooses to expose himself to the cold all alone. The fathers deeds, the things he did were an act of love. Even though he was not thanked, alone, and without an attitude of reciprocity, he "went on loving." The question at the end is repeated perhaps so that we will stop, and think about whether we have also learned the important lesson that the child in the poem needed to learn.

Poetry is great because without it the power of love is very dificult to describe. Explicitly one can try to define it, maybe saying something like "it is a verb." But Poetry allows for something really deep to come up. It allows something experienced by one to be exposed to the world and understood by all.