Love is a verb

Their eyes look in, mine stay fixed up ahead

In those non-contact moments where the robots turn red

Sometimes there’s a coin or a school lunch ham roll

But always, without fail, it leaves a scar on my soul.

Just a gap through the window and a meeting of eyes

One human moment may reveal a surprise

‘coz that smile from the sidewalk, from the down and out on the kerb

Might help us remember that love is a verb.

You see, no words can replace one selfless action

And fraction by fraction we can create traction

Little by sticker, a small act there and here

When we act on what scares us, we reduce the world’s fear.

While the stickers for some might be just a small token

They make us feel great when we sit with the broken

Because when we act from the depth of our feeling

We might assist others, but it’s us we are healing.

We look at this mountain of homelessness need

And when we can’t find the words, just do a good deed

Because love moves those mountains, it helps people to cope

And it does all of this through the spreading of hope.

Sometimes we’re confused, we don’t know where to start

But we can’t go far wrong if we start from the heart

This movement’s about doing, it’s no marketing blurb

Because you can say what you like, but Love is a Verb.

[ So, while the world holds its breath from a virus Corona

And the debacle continues in the Cape around SONA

We have music by Janis and get hugs in the drive

On this perfect evening we feel so alive.]

We have nothing to lose, so let’s give it a try

The trapped barbs in the wire could be set free to fly

And maybe the secret to the art of pure living

Lies in not what we get, but in what we are giving?

‘Coz if good people do nothing, then nothing gets done

Yet small simple actions clear the rain from the sun

Bright moments of doing and a little mind shifting

And those ‘down and outs’ become our own uplifting.

Perhaps it is true that love knows no end

For we get so much more than we ever could spend

And when those uplifted smile from the kerb

Their smile will remind us that Love is a Verb.

[ So, to Kirsten and Andrew, we all give our thanks

You take people in and you fill up our tanks

You really are a true inspiration

It’s people like you who make us a great Nation.]

Steve