"THE LOOK"

THE LOOK

Strephon kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed me at all

Strephon’s kiss was lost in jest,
Robin’s lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day.

-Sara Teasdale-

Each one of us has his or her own way of loving people. For some people, they show their love to someone by giving that someone gifts of any kind as long as it makes them happy. Others just spend time with their love ones so that they may express to them how important they are. Aside from these different styles of loving people, the most common style of expressing their love is through kissing. We cannot deny the fact that kissing is the easiest way to express your love to someone. But would it be nice if you will show your love to someone in another way? Would it be great to express your love to someone far different from the way other people do it?


In the poem, one can see that there are three men who are deeply in love with a girl. These three men are all hoping for the girl to love them in return. In order for the girl to love them in return, they decided to express their love for her. Strephon was the first to express his love for her since it was said that he did it in the spring. Robin was the second since fall comes after spring. Colin was the last to kiss but his kiss is not like the common kisses that we see everyday. He used his eyes in kissing, which not very normal to people. Even though his kiss was the weirdest, it was the one that struck the girl really hard. The kisses that Strephon and Robin gave were all lost in jest and in play. It never brought any significance to the girl. It was as if nothing has happened. What does this imply? Does this mean that the girl likes Colin more?
Well, we are not so sure about that. But what is important is that we get to know the reason why the girl was haunted by Colin’s actions. If I were to interpret the poem, I believe that the reason behind such reaction is the uniqueness of what Colin did. He did not kiss the girl the way the other men did. Colin’s action also shows that his love was a respectful kind of love. He showed to the girl that it is not only in kissing that true love can be seen. He showed that love is also shown in the meaning of the actions and not just mere actions only.


Going back to the uniqueness part, as what I have said, it is not the normal type. But being not normal does not mean that loving itself is not normal. Majority of the people who are in love are crazy. Not crazy medically, but somehow psychologically. They are crazy in such a way that they do the weirdest stuffs just to make their love ones happy. As shown in the poem, Colin was indeed crazy, crazy for the girl because who in the world would kiss the girl through his eyes? If there would be one, would you agree that he is crazy?


In the respectful part, it is pretty obvious that his kiss was not the physical type. It is not the type wherein lips are used. What does this imply? It was said in the poem that the girl was haunted by Colin’s action. Therefore, Colin’s action had a significant effect on the girl. If it had a significant effect on the girl, then it would imply that in order to express your love for a person, one does not need physical contact such as kissing. All the person has to do is just mean his actions and love accordingly, even if it is crazy for some people.