This is a truly beautiful love poem that could only have been written by someone who not only understands the initial sense of the miraculous when two people meet, but also understands the long haul together and what it takes to make a relationship really work. I thought these lines were just wonderful:
Thank you, Martin, for your thoughts on this poem. I like the lines you chose to include with your post. Keeping the promise of love alive requires that we show up every day, in words, in deeds, in gestures. A commitment is not something to be put off until the next weekend or the next birthday or the next holiday. The commitment is for every day.
This is just gorgeous, especially the ending where shame comes up so potently. Sharing shame with our beloved is one of the most intimate things we can do.
In my estimation, Lev, that kind of sharing is also the most difficult.
To allow another to see our deepest and most hidden parts is sometimes the first, and often the final step to coming to terms with them. It also forces you to ask what it is you trust: your secrets or your love.
Interesting, Lev. I don’t know much about Affect theory, but I have read that it has been applied to the act of reading. Exactly how that works is a mystery to me.
thanks for being available to share this. I always tell my patients who are struggling in their romantic relationships, whatever form they may take: “Do you keep your hands open—not only to give, but also to allow yourself to receive—in a persistent and ongoing way?” That’s why it resonates a bit with your poem.
This reminds me of a character in a TV show I just finished watching who pushes everyone away because he didn't feel deserving of their love. It was very sad, and if he was real I would say this poem would be a dire need for him. Beautifully written Paul.
Paul, love asks of us to be vulnerable, to open up and take a chance that someone would accept our quirks, habits, and maybe that shadow side that hits once in a great while. I’ve been a romantic all my life, but put up walls of steel, not to feel the pain I did with the one person who had me completely, left. As you stated, Again, Again, Again…I’m too deep and sensitive, so maybe in another lifetime 🤷🏼♀️
Thank you for sharing my poem, @Maureen Susannah
Thank you for restacking this, @Nora O’Dowd
Thank you for the restack, @Maureen Doallas
Thanks for this restack, @Gary Spangler
Thank you for this restack, @Alison Redford
Thank you for restacking this, @Portia
Another wise, beautiful, moving poem, Paul.
Thank you for this restack, @Rolando Andrade
Thank you, Diane & @Blue Citizen 77 for sharing this poem.
This is a truly beautiful love poem that could only have been written by someone who not only understands the initial sense of the miraculous when two people meet, but also understands the long haul together and what it takes to make a relationship really work. I thought these lines were just wonderful:
"love does not only want our hearts,
it wants our hands.
It wants us to show up"
Thank you, Martin, for your thoughts on this poem. I like the lines you chose to include with your post. Keeping the promise of love alive requires that we show up every day, in words, in deeds, in gestures. A commitment is not something to be put off until the next weekend or the next birthday or the next holiday. The commitment is for every day.
Well said. I couldn't agree more. Sometimes miracles only die from lack of attention
This is just gorgeous, especially the ending where shame comes up so potently. Sharing shame with our beloved is one of the most intimate things we can do.
In my estimation, Lev, that kind of sharing is also the most difficult.
To allow another to see our deepest and most hidden parts is sometimes the first, and often the final step to coming to terms with them. It also forces you to ask what it is you trust: your secrets or your love.
I agree, having studied shame via Affect Theory.
Interesting, Lev. I don’t know much about Affect theory, but I have read that it has been applied to the act of reading. Exactly how that works is a mystery to me.
I have a book on Edith Wharton's life and fiction seen through the Affect Theory lens. It'll be mentioned in an upcoming Substack.
Lovely, Paul, because it’s true💙✍️🦋
I think so, Diane. Love is both a promise we make and the practice that keeps the promise alive, again and again and again.
Beautiful and inspiring Paul
Thank you, Rolando. I see this poem as a comment on what I was unable to do in my own life.
thanks for being available to share this. I always tell my patients who are struggling in their romantic relationships, whatever form they may take: “Do you keep your hands open—not only to give, but also to allow yourself to receive—in a persistent and ongoing way?” That’s why it resonates a bit with your poem.
Absolutely true, Rolando. You cannot ask of another what you will not give of yourself.
Tantalus temptation reaches out to touch, grasp the unknown but never to own.
Shroud descends hides face in hoodie, unknown possibility.
Tantalizing, Richbee!
This reminds me of a character in a TV show I just finished watching who pushes everyone away because he didn't feel deserving of their love. It was very sad, and if he was real I would say this poem would be a dire need for him. Beautifully written Paul.
Thank you, Jordan. That’s a nice thought!
Paul, love asks of us to be vulnerable, to open up and take a chance that someone would accept our quirks, habits, and maybe that shadow side that hits once in a great while. I’ve been a romantic all my life, but put up walls of steel, not to feel the pain I did with the one person who had me completely, left. As you stated, Again, Again, Again…I’m too deep and sensitive, so maybe in another lifetime 🤷🏼♀️
And sometimes, love asks of us to be careful, even though we rarely admit it (until it’s too late).
I forgot about that one, Paul, an important one indeed❤️
Love, not always glamorous but present in daily action. I love this description and I just might be living it. Daniel
Good for you, Daniel, and if your wife is living in tune with that—Hurrah! 😊💛