Of Love

Love is a thing that is so confounding that it has been an endless inspiration for artists and thinkers.  I think of all the poems that have been written and vow NEVER to write a poem about love.  I would have to be VERY inspired before I ever would attempt it.  I have, however, enjoyed reading what others have to say about love. 

“Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I suppose that anything less than this is not love, but I have to wonder if maybe I would seek a peek every once in a while because I loved to see that "he" was looking the same direction.  This is also true in other types of relationships and friendships.  In a high school assignment, I remember writing that friendship requires a sharing of similar values and life goals--not of the specific kind.

“It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them. ”
― Agatha Christie, An Autobiography

This first makes me laugh, but I think I agree.  It is a curious thought.  Perhaps those moments make you realize that you truly love that person for who they are.

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

 Sometimes, for hurting and insecure girls especially, this is sadly true.

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”
― Anaïs Nin

 ahh...so it is our duty to keep it a live.

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

 I find this male perspective very intriguing.  Is it true?  Perhaps.

“Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.”
― Plato

Here is one that is so puzzling, I like it.  "Those who wish to sing always find a song."  What does that mean?

“I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks. I have a tendency not only to see the best in everyone, but to assume that everyone is emotionally capable of reaching his highest potential. I have fallen in love more times than I care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself, and I have hung on to the relationship for a long time (sometimes far too long) waiting for the man to ascend to his own greatness. Many times in romance I have been a victim of my own optimism.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

 Perhaps this is true for many women. Do we create the character before we know the person?

“Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”
― Robert Frost