Love
Is a brown man's fist
With hard knuckles
Crushing the lips
Blackening the eyes, --
Hit me again,
Says Clorinda.
This final line makes us step away from the Love metaphor and consider if this is really an abusive relationship. 
 Perhaps Hughes is trying to say that love in Beale Street means hitting your girl, and we are left to wonder whether this poem is metaphorical (Love is violent, but we still desire it) or literal (love in Beale Street is abusive).
Beale Street Love