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When Love Is forever
Quotations, poems, axioms and text about love being everlasting and illustrated by artwork from some of the leading artists of the day.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published April 25, 1996
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November 22, 2022
Alfred Lord Tennyson summed it up very succinctly with 'Brief is life but long is love'. It could not have been put any better! And Helen Exley has gathered together a host of similar views on long-lasting love from a passage n the Bible through to the modern day. And a variety of works of art adorn the text.
There are plenty of words that are very appealing such as Zelda Fitzgerald in a letter to husband F Scott in which she writes, 'Without you, dearest dearest I couldn't see or hear or feel or think - or live - I love you so and I am never in all our lives going to let us be apart another night.' Nice thoughts - and I completely understand where she is coming from - but what a pity it all subsequently turned somewhat sour.
In similar vein Dylan Thomas wrote to his future wife Caitlin McNamara, 'I love you, it's almost too wonderful (to me) to say; but I want to say it and I am saying IT: I love you and we will always keep each other alive.' Sadly another prediction that didn't turn out quite like that.
Let's therefore turn to Vita Sackville-West who wrote, 'There's nothing more lovely in life than the unions of two people for one another has grown through the years from the small acorn of passion to a great rooted tree. Surviving all vicissitudes and rich with its manifold branches, every leaf holding its own significance.' Having written that, even her and husband Harold Nicolson had what could be classed as a quite different type of marriage [I should just add that 'Portrait of a Marriage' by their son was superbly objective and was one of the most touching books that I read as a younger man].
On the other hand, American writer Lisa Niemi is one we want to adhere to as she says, 'Love is supposed to start with bells ringing and go downhill from there. But it was the opposite for me. There's an intense connection between us, and as we stayed together the bells rang louder.' That's a much happier thought ... now, what's that ringing in my ear I hear?
Away from the vicissitudes of marriage, a Greek proverb is inspires when it states, 'The heart that loves is always young' while another proverb states, 'The heart has no wrinkles.' Both encouraging thoughts, even when one's loved one has sadly passed. Vincent Van Gogh writes in similar vein with 'Love is something eternal - the aspect may change , but not the essence.' The intrinsic nature of love certainly doesn't.
We can leave it to a Frenchman to capture the essence of the whole thing as Victor Hugo wrote, When two souls, which have sought each other for however long in the throng, have finally found each other, when they have seen that they are matched, are in sympathy and compatible in a word. that they are alike, there is then established forever between them a union, fiery and pure as they themselves are, a union which begins on earth and continues for ever in heaven.' Thank you Victor, I do hope you are so right!
This is a most enjoyable book which provides plenty good thoughts about that intense feeling of deep affection and its short entries can be read over and over, for consolation or perhaps when one wants some assurance of what the future may hold.
There are plenty of words that are very appealing such as Zelda Fitzgerald in a letter to husband F Scott in which she writes, 'Without you, dearest dearest I couldn't see or hear or feel or think - or live - I love you so and I am never in all our lives going to let us be apart another night.' Nice thoughts - and I completely understand where she is coming from - but what a pity it all subsequently turned somewhat sour.
In similar vein Dylan Thomas wrote to his future wife Caitlin McNamara, 'I love you, it's almost too wonderful (to me) to say; but I want to say it and I am saying IT: I love you and we will always keep each other alive.' Sadly another prediction that didn't turn out quite like that.
Let's therefore turn to Vita Sackville-West who wrote, 'There's nothing more lovely in life than the unions of two people for one another has grown through the years from the small acorn of passion to a great rooted tree. Surviving all vicissitudes and rich with its manifold branches, every leaf holding its own significance.' Having written that, even her and husband Harold Nicolson had what could be classed as a quite different type of marriage [I should just add that 'Portrait of a Marriage' by their son was superbly objective and was one of the most touching books that I read as a younger man].
On the other hand, American writer Lisa Niemi is one we want to adhere to as she says, 'Love is supposed to start with bells ringing and go downhill from there. But it was the opposite for me. There's an intense connection between us, and as we stayed together the bells rang louder.' That's a much happier thought ... now, what's that ringing in my ear I hear?
Away from the vicissitudes of marriage, a Greek proverb is inspires when it states, 'The heart that loves is always young' while another proverb states, 'The heart has no wrinkles.' Both encouraging thoughts, even when one's loved one has sadly passed. Vincent Van Gogh writes in similar vein with 'Love is something eternal - the aspect may change , but not the essence.' The intrinsic nature of love certainly doesn't.
We can leave it to a Frenchman to capture the essence of the whole thing as Victor Hugo wrote, When two souls, which have sought each other for however long in the throng, have finally found each other, when they have seen that they are matched, are in sympathy and compatible in a word. that they are alike, there is then established forever between them a union, fiery and pure as they themselves are, a union which begins on earth and continues for ever in heaven.' Thank you Victor, I do hope you are so right!
This is a most enjoyable book which provides plenty good thoughts about that intense feeling of deep affection and its short entries can be read over and over, for consolation or perhaps when one wants some assurance of what the future may hold.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review