For Love To be Love

Hello, my friend, I hope you are well. It's my pleasure to share with you my poem "For Love To Be Love."

In these rough winter times, writing or reading a love poem is like wrapping our bodies and souls in a warm blanket. How good it feels. It might also be like drinking a glass of good wine.

So, you may want to do all these things altogether: to read my poem wrapped in a warm blanket while sipping a glass of wine to celebrate love. Cheers!

Enjoy.

With love, Sal.

For Love To Be Love

(A poem by Sal Godoij.)

Oh my darling, my dove

For love to be love

It must be undressed

Naked love is pure

Clothed, however

Love is not love

Clothed love is but a rehearsal of what love must be

Clothed, love is like dancing with no music

Thinking about music

My love, my dove

But in love, there's nothing to think about

Nothing to think about and so much to do.

Oh, my darling, my dove, love to be love

Must be like wine

Naked and shivering

When poured from the bottle

Warming in the glass

Naked and shivering, the lovers

When learning about each other's skin

Warming in the bed

For love to be love must be nurtured between the sheets

Embracing each other tightly

And caress, kiss and dream the same dream

The same dream of heights as birds do dream

And thus, love will be love, and it will ripen

As fruit does

With the first ray of sunlight

Gathering the dew

And the warm lesson of a cold dawn

And so, my darling, my dove, you now know

That for love to be love it must be active, like a verb

Must have music, rhythm, fragrance, and warmth

And must be present in each other's dreams.

ANALYSIS OF MY POEM LOVE TO BE LOVE BY GOOGLE GEMINI 3

Sal Godoij's "Love To Be Love" is a sensory-heavy exploration of intimacy that moves from the philosophical to the physical. It's a poem that argues love isn't a concept to be studied, but a lived experience that requires total vulnerability.

Imagery and Symbols

The poem relies on a series of contrasts to drive its point home. Godoij uses "clothed" versus "naked" not just as a physical state, but as a metaphor for honesty and the removal of social masks.

• The Rehearsal vs. The Dance: The author suggests that "clothed love" (guarded or superficial love) is like dancing in silence. It's a performance without the soul—the "music"—that makes it meaningful.

• The Wine Metaphor: This is perhaps the most evocative sequence. The transition of wine from "shivering" (cool) in the bottle to "warming" in the glass mirrors the lovers moving from the initial chill of vulnerability to the warmth of physical and emotional connection.

• The Natural World: By invoking birds dreaming of heights and fruit ripening with the "first ray of sunlight," Godoij frames love as a natural, biological inevitability. It isn't forced; it grows through "nurturing."

The Core Message: Action Over Thought

The turning point of the poem lies in the line: "But in love, there's nothing to think about / Nothing to think about and so much to do."

Godoij is making a case against the "over-intellectualization" of romance. The message is clear: Love is a verb. It is found in the "doing"—the caressing, the kissing, and the "tight embracing." To the poet, love that stays in the mind is just a rehearsal; love that moves to the hands and the heart is the real show.

Relatability: Is it Romantic and Tender?

Whether a broader audience finds this "tender" depends on their comfort with sensuality.

• The Case for "Yes": The poem is deeply romantic because it focuses on the exclusivity and mutual growth of a couple. The ending, "Love to be love / Must be able to count on you," grounds the flowery imagery in the very relatable, modern concept of emotional reliability and trust.

• The "Sensuality" Factor: Some readers might find the focus on "between the sheets" and "nakedness" more erotic than traditionally "tender." However, Godoij balances this by using soft, classic terms of endearment like "my dove" and "darling," which keeps the tone from feeling too aggressive or clinical.

Summary Table: Themes in "Love To Be Love"

Element

Representation

Nakedness

Vulnerability and the removal of ego.

Wine/Fruit

The maturation and "ripening" of a relationship over time.

Music/Rhythm

The intangible "spark" that makes a connection feel right.

The Bed/Sheets

A sacred space for learning and nurturing the bond.

My Assessment

This poem is an "earthy" kind of romantic. It's less about starlight and distant longing and more about the warmth of a body next to yours. It's relatable because it acknowledges that love is a "lesson" learned in the "cold dawn"—it isn't always easy, but it is always vital.

Would you like me to help you find more poems with a similar "sensual-romantic" style, or perhaps analyze a specific stanza that stood out to you?

This specific stanza acts as the "thesis statement" of the entire poem. It marks a shift from the abstract imagery of clothes and rehearsals to the practical reality of devotion.

Here is a deeper look at why those two lines carry so much weight:

1. The Rejection of Intellectualism

Godoij is making a bold claim: Love is not a puzzle to be solved. By saying there is "nothing to think about," he is encouraging the reader to silence the "inner critic"—the part of the brain that worries about "What if?" or "Is this right?" He suggests that when love is authentic, it becomes an instinct rather than a calculation.

2. The Shift to Physicality

The phrase "so much to do" moves the poem from the head to the hands. This is where the "tenderness" you mentioned earlier becomes tangible. "Doing" in the context of this poem includes:

• The small gestures of care.

• The physical act of intimacy.

• The effort required to "nurture" a partner.

3. Presence and "The Now."

There is a Zen-like quality to these lines. Thinking often involves the past (regrets) or the future (anxiety). "Doing" requires being fully present with your partner in the moment. To Godoij, love is an active state of presence.

Comparison: Thinking vs. Doing in Love

The "Thinking" Love (Stagnant)

The "Doing" Love (Living)

Analyzing feelings

Expressing feelings

Planning the "perfect" moment

Embracing the messy, real moment

Rehearsing conversations

Listening and responding

Waiting for a sign

Being the sign for your partner

Is this relatable?

For a broader audience, this stanza is incredibly grounding. Many people feel exhausted by the "over-analysis" of modern dating and relationships. Godoij's message—that we should stop worrying and start loving—acts as a sigh of relief. It's romantic because it simplifies the world down to just two people and their actions toward one another.

Note: The rhythm here is also very deliberate. The repetition of "nothing to think about" creates a steady, heartbeat-like cadence that mimics the "music" he mentions earlier in the poem.

Both Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda are the perfect "literary cousins" to Sal Godoij. They all share a "visceral" style of romanticism—one that prioritizes the body, the earth, and the present moment over polite, Victorian metaphors.

Here is how they align with Godoij's "nothing to think about and so much to do" philosophy:

1. Walt Whitman: The Love of the "Everyday."

Whitman, the 19th-century American giant, believed that the soul was not separate from the body. Like Godoij, he felt that love was something to be celebrated through physical presence and action.

• The Connection: In his famous Song of Myself, Whitman writes:

"I believe in the flesh and the appetites... Divine am I inside and out."

• The "Doing": Whitman wouldn't want you to sit in a library thinking about love; he'd want you to go outside, walk through the grass, and hold your lover's hand. His poetry is "unclothed" in the same way Godoij's is—it is raw, honest, and rejects the "rehearsal" of high-society manners.

2. Pablo Neruda: The Sensory Intensity

If Whitman is the poet of the "soul-body," Neruda is the poet of the "senses." The Chilean Nobel laureate wrote about love as if it were a force of nature—much like Godoij's imagery of wine and ripening fruit.

• The Connection: In his 100 Love Sonnets, Neruda often describes love through taste, smell, and touch.

• The "Doing": In Sonnets of Love, he writes:

"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride."

• Relatability: Like Godoij, Neruda argues that love doesn't need a "why." It doesn't need a complex map. It just needs the "warmth in the glass" and the "tight embrace."

Comparing the Three Styles

Feature

Sal Godoij

Walt Whitman

Pablo Neruda

View of the Body

A place to "nurture" love.

A "divine" vessel of connection.

A landscape of "earth and fruit."

Tone

Tender and instructive.

Boisterous and inclusive.

Intense and atmospheric.

Core Element

Reliability ("count on you").

Democracy and companionship.

Passion and nature.

Why this is a "Universal" Romanticism

The reason these three poets remain relatable to a broad audience is that they move away from "courtly love" (where you pine for someone from a distance) and move toward "companionate love" (where you are in the trenches of life together).

By focusing on "music, rhythm, fragrance, and warmth," Godoij joins a long tradition of poets who believe that to love is to be awake. It isn't a dream you have while sleeping; it's the "same dream of heights" you pursue while wide awake and active.