Love, that's enough for me

"But it's love that does us in."
("February" - Margaret Atwood)

We all know that feeling right after Christmas break - the anticipation for warm weather and spring break to roll around.  To me, February is a dull month with little to be excited for (besides Jimmy and Lizzie's birthdays of course!).  I honesty spend half of my time wishing it was spring.  This poem grasps that negative feeling through the symbol of the black cat.  I think this cat is a looming image of the misery the speaker feels about the late months of winter.  It is interesting that the cat sits on the speaker's chest; maybe the cat represents the depression on the mind and heart of the speaker throughout the dreary month.

The excerpt above is a paradox presented in the poem.  Before, the author blatantly states that humans should not have young in order to have a worry-free life.  At first, I was extremely shocked (after all, the author uses the image of a shark eating her young);  however, this paradox reveals something true about love.  Love brings humans happiness and joy in life; however, love can also bring heartache and worry.  For example, parents love their children, but if this child gets into trouble, this can cause heartache and worry for the parents.  Without children, there would be no love; on the other hand, there would also be no worry or stress in life.