THE VALLEY OF LOVE

The Hoopoe continued: ‘The next valley is The Valley of Love. To enter it one must be a flaming fire---what shall I say? A man must himself be fire. The face of the lover must be enflamed, burning and impetuous as fire. True love knows no after-thoughts; with love, good and evil cease to exist.

‘But as for you, the heedless and careless, this discourse will not touch you, your teeth will not even nibbles at it. A loyal person stakes ready money, stakes his head even, to be united to his friend. Others content themselves with promising what they will do for you tomorrow. If he who sets out on this way will not engage himself wholly and completely he will never be free from the sadness and melancholy which weigh him down. Until the falcon reaches his aim he is agitated and distressed. If a fish is thrown on to the beach by the waves it struggles to get back into the water.

I would write you a love letter, But there's not enough paperto write down everything wonderful about you– the way you laugh, talk, and kiss, the way you do those little things that make me so crazy about you. I would write you a love letter, but there're not enough pencils or pens or ink to put down how you make me feel-- how you make my heart beat faster and my breath catch whenever we're close, how you stay with me like a love song I can't get out of my head. I would write you a love letter, but there aren't enough hours or days or lifetimes to describe all you mean to me– the way you've changed my world and made me dream things I never dared dream before. I would write you a love letter, But I can't... I love you too much.