"Only Love" Poetry

Only Love by Ben Howard is a song focuses on the only love that makes him feel safe. The chorus is as follows: 

"Darling you're with me, always around me.
Only love, only love.
Darling I feel you, under my body.
Only love, only love.
Give me shelter, or show me heart
Come on love, come on love.
Watch me fall apart, watch me fall apart."

The repetition of "only love" emphasizes that his love is the only one for him. This love gives him shelter and the sense of belonging he needs to continue with life. At the end, he continues this repetition as he ends with the repetition of "only love love love," "come on love love love," and "show me love love love." He uses metaphors to describe the love and what he can be. 

"And I'll be yours to keep.

A wind in the shadow, a whale song in the deep."

Here, he describes the depth of the love he has, in a way personifying his love and the love they share. This metaphor describes the severity of his love as he says "watch me fall apart," implying that not only will he fall apart without his only love, but he is also falling apart at the feet of his love--giving her the ultimate sacrifice--as he is willing to give up his wholeness to love her. 

All these effects form a unique love story. It shows that love is not happy or easy all the time. Rather, love takes work and sacrifice. And the ultimate love--his only love--is to give everything, including his whole state of being. He is giving himself to her, saying "I'll be yours to keep." He is allowing her to take him captive under the shelter she will provide with her love in return. This story of one love proves to exist as the offering of a love so pure.