If love like Bread

If love like bread
We knead and feel with hearts that burn
With longing
To savour, each cherished bite
And fragrance that lingers
Forever in the depths of eternity
Bring pleasure to each sense
As we knead and mould each piece
Into ropes that bind

If love like bread
We wait with patience
For it to grow

For it will grow
Unless we forget
to care and cherish

then it will die
and pain will grow

But we start once again
hoping,
never giving up
with faith in our hearts
that one day, perhaps
we will find love
that will grow
and the courage, to start,
all over, all over again…..

Judy Koh


I was very touched the first time I read this poem. It spoke volumes by distilling the essence of what I was feeling about love and relationships. It very aptly likened love to the process of breadmaking.

To make bread, we need to knead the dough first. And, we should knead it carefully as an under-knead or over-knead dough would not give the desired volume and texture. Other steps in the breadmaking process also need to be carefully managed to achieve the desired results. Proper fermentation, molding, proofing and finally baking will result in a bread of beautiful color, shape, texture, and with an aroma that lingers on long after it has been eaten. Love, like bread, when properly nurtured, is beautiful and is relished forever.

But good bread is not without a price. The process of kneading the dough is tiring, fermentation and proofing demand patience and good judgment, and baking is hot and we risk getting burned if careless. But what price would we not pay to have good bread? Alas, despite our best intentions and effort, we may still fail.

As we “knead and mold” each others’ lives, we need to manage the relationship carefully for love to survive, if not blossom. Friction, misunderstanding, undue expectations, etc. could throw a relationship into shambles. Ignoring it will finally lead to irreparable damage with no options for reconciliation.

And, love, like bread, will diminish and die. In its place, “pain will grow” and there will be no end to this pain. The pain of rejection and regret will follow us for the rest of our lives. Despair, cynicism, insecurity, depression, amongst others, will haunt us. When will it ever stop growing? Even if it can be stopped, can it be forgotten?

The deeper that we have loved, the greater is the pain. And, to pick ourselves up to love again really takes a lot of courage. Questions of inadequacy in dealing with similar situations, loss of confidence, suspicion, etc are barriers that prevent us from starting another relationship. It takes a lot of resolution, inner strength, and above all else, personal courage, to allow ourselves to start all over again.

This is the part of the poem that touched me most and I think this is the best part of the poem: only someone who has gone through life’s upheavals could relate such an experience, and Judy has put it down so poetically in just a couple of hesitant lines.

“and the courage, to start,
all over, all over again…..“

Judy is a passionate baker, chef, teacher, and above all, a successful entrepreneur. Her gift in poetry has enabled her to infuse food into her poetry, and poetry into her food. She has founded a culinary school which teaches baking and culinary arts, and beside it she has started a café where she serves popular dishes that she teaches in her culinary school. Judy has adorned the café with her literary works, inspiring her customers as they sip the reflections of love and life.

If you are interested in knowing more about Judy's culinary school, please visit: http://www.creativeculinaire.com/