For you never knew her, didn’t know her at all;
Got caught on a polyptoton,
And missed the point entirely.
What is more important; the meaning,
Or the form?
The devices or the decisions?
(And don’t bother calling my
parallelism or parentheticals.)
Both are required.
But you lost yourself in the details,
Missed entirely the big picture
That read, “I love you”,
And announced to the world that
there was good use of hyperbole.
You read the words, but not the poem.
Saw the poet, not the girl.
And you knew nothing, saw naught,
Loved not at all.