Pain from a Poem

Last evening at class we were given at the outset, as has happened on other occasions, a poem to read, discuss but mostly analyze using the twin overlapping lens of sociology/ministry. As has become our habit the class found many examples. However, sort of unlike me, I felt reticent and unable to participate. it seemed to me, anthropomorphically speaking, that the poem was 'pained' by that analysis. it was a poem about the strange fragility of love. Love between a man and a woman that moves into their latter years and is glimpsed, just briefly. A true love. A love unspoken. A love often missed by gestures and the absence of gestures. A love not always sure of itself, but love nevertheless. A love that is what love so much is .. mysterious. I felt the poem as a sharp nick in my own heart. On this occasion I just felt that our analytical tools were not the sensitive handling that the poem invited.