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About love...

6/1/2018

8 Comments

 
by Gwen Plano
​The trip to New York for my youngest son's wedding was magical. At every turn, there was another revelation about Love. At the wedding, there was only one reading, a poem by author Neil Gaiman. I share this with you, because I was deeply moved by its simplicity. Perhaps you will enjoy it as well. 
                                              ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~

By Neil Gaiman
 
This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing.
This is everything I've learned about marriage: nothing.
 
Only that the world out there is complicated,
and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,
and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,
is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze,
and not to be alone.
 
It's not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it's what they mean.
Somebody's got your back.
Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn't want to rescue you
or send for the army to rescue them.
 
It's not two broken halves becoming one.
It's the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home
because home is wherever you are both together.
 
So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: nothing,
like a book without pages or a forest without trees.
 
Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.
Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials.
Because nobody else's love, nobody else's marriage, is like yours,
and it's a road you can only learn by walking it,
a dance you cannot be taught,
a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.
 
And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,
not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.
And your hands will meet, 
and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.
 
And that's all I know about love.
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8 Comments
John Howell link
6/2/2018 06:11:30

Beautiful poem, Gwen. Speaks volumes about the joy of love.

Reply
Gwen Plano
6/3/2018 05:35:20

Thank you, John. I thought so too. Have a great day.

Reply
Ingalls Karen link
6/2/2018 08:10:23

I remember when my youngest son got married. He was the last of my three sons and therefore had its specialness. Your blog and poetry is beautiful

Reply
Gwen Plano
6/3/2018 05:37:06

Thank you, dear Karen. Like you, I have three sons, and this wedding was particularly poignant. ♥

Reply
D.L. Finn
6/3/2018 01:50:48

I love this poem. It says it all by saying nothing. You can't prepare only live it.

Reply
Gwen Plano
6/3/2018 05:38:05

Thank you, D. L. You are so right - you can only live it. Big hugs. ♥

Reply
Jan Sikes
6/3/2018 10:48:18

The poem says it all beautifully. There is no handbook that comes with marriage. It's a fluid and changing entity. Just beautiful, Gwen.

Reply
Vashti Q link
6/5/2018 08:19:53

It must have been such a lovely wedding, Gwen. I wish your son and his wife all the best. This poem is amazing! I love it! Its message is so raw and honest. <3

Reply



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Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ―Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning


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