Being Introduced To An Emotion Rather Than Being Told What To Experience

Touched by an Angel by Maya Angelou

This poem brings to mind many of my experiences with my dearest friends. After living with 5 other women while at college I have found that my past experiences in romantic relationships have shaped my personal view on L-O-V-E. These experiences have allowed me to give advice, take advice, and learn with some really extraordinary women that are my best friends. With this in mind Maya Angelou's words in "Touched by an Angel" touched me in many different ways and on many different levels.

This piece is not defined by its title. Its body describes the topic and its title does something more than label it. It captured me. I felt that instead of telling me what to think about it guided me into the emotion that it spoke about. The title acted as a foreshadow to what the body depicts. This is one thing that I love most about the poem.

As a reader I felt that this helped me receive much more from the poem. Not only was I hearing what the author had to say, I was also experiencing my own journey while doing so. I was able to relate and expand my own thoughts. Many poems that I've read in the past do not allow me to do this.

There are so many definitions of love. (Especially among young adults.) I believe that although we are able to love more than one person there really is only one true love that we are meant to be with and that love will be so true that it is undeniable. There should be no doubts of how powerful that true love is and if there is then it is not meant to be. This may sound cliché or unrealistic to some. However, I believe that there is a grander plan for each and every one of us. That true love is part of that plan.

In this poem Angelou speaks of love that "comes into our sight" from a "high holy temple" and I see this as a beautiful description of that amazing connection that two people find when they know that they want to spend the rest of their life together and that they couldn't be without one another.

In today's society divorce can seem to be more common than a 50th Wedding Anniversary. This is such a sad thought for those of us hopeless romantics. Yet, it is an enticing challenge for those that keep the faith of what true love is really all about. When Angelou states "love strikes away fear from our souls" a great deal of emotion floods through me. The fear of failiure, infidelity, divorce, and loss that all seems so common make “love” seem like one of life's greatest challenges and/or achievements. This poem illustrates that allow love may seem out of reach at times there is a capacity in each human that allows us to experience something indescribable and overwhelming. It describes the journey that we take before, during, and after we have found it. It describes the possibility of being deceived by feelings that seem so close to the real thing that we all mistaken it a few (or sometimes many) times before we actually experience it.