What do you think Nikki Giovanni is referencing to in her poem The World Isn't a Pleasent Place to Be?

Question

here's the poem:

the world is not a pleasant place
to be without
someone to hold and be held by

a river would stop
its flow if only
a stream were there
to receive it

an ocean would never laugh
if clouds weren't there
to kiss her tears

the world is not
a pleasant place to be without
someone

Answer 1

She is talking about warmth of love.
The world would not be pleasant without love. The second stanza shows this by using the image of river flowing to a lake or ocean. If only a stream not an ocean were to receive it, it would burst its shores/banks. If there was no one to share our pains, joys and anxieties, we would find the world a horrible place!!

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