This poem captures a quiet, almost sacred moment between the poet and her puppy—a shared gaze that speaks where words cannot. In that stillness, we recognize something deeply human: the longing to understand, to care, and to be understood in return.
It’s a scene so many of us know—the small, daily rituals with a creature we love. Yet from this simple interaction, the poem unfolds into a meditation on love itself: love as silent empathy, as a force as generous as sunlight, and also as something that can leave us hollow, hungry, even as we give it.
When the poet writes, “All its love is in the human world,” the line lands not as abstraction, but as truth. It roots love firmly here—in our kitchens, in our mornings, in the eyes of a creature who won’t eat breakfast. It’s costly. It’s beautiful. And it’s ours.
To transform an ordinary moment like this into a vessel for such emotional depth—to let it hold both emptiness and affection—that is the mark of craft. “All Its Love Is in the Human World” doesn’t shout its wisdom. It whispers, lingering long after the page ends.
All Its Love Is in the Human World
by Cathy Xinman
Puppy, you won’t eat the breakfast you wanted.
Our eyes meet;
I long to know what you’re thinking.
Eyes—
we look at each other with our eyes.
You’ll get hungry; you’ll eat.
I stay empty-stomached,
go through my day.
The morning sun is full of advantage.
All its love is in the human world.
All that love is not in our gaze,
but in my eyes.
It never needs a meal.
I am hollow with hunger,
my mood sinking.
You live your day,
I live mine.
My love,
like water steamed away by the sun,
we are both within the water.
Cathy Xinman writes poetry in English and Chinese. Find her English-language collection, Where You Love Yourself, on Amazon. You can also hear her poetry on her TikTok page. She is also editor-in-chief The Best Poems of the Year by Chinese Poets & Writers of the World 2025. People with Chinese ancestry can submit poetry to this anthology in Chinese or English by emailing cnawpress@gmail.com.
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