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Roses symbolize unbridled passion. Of beauty born, they burn with hungry fire. So may lovers melt their self-obsession, Each merging in a maelstrom of desire, Swept into a better world and higher. One can be unhappy by oneself, but to be truly tormented, one must love. Love is harder to accept than to give. To love is to embrace life. To love fully is to embrace both death and life. The secret of happiness is simple: be loving, giving,caring. Why, then, are so many unhappy? Because they are afraid. Love only yourself, and you are alone. Love only one other, and the two of you are alone. Love only your family, and your family is alone. Love only your nation, and your nation is alone. There can be no communion, not even with yourself, except through love of God. Passion may remain a gift, But love is not for free. To love and be loved two must give, Or love is not to be. Love is a decision made Not once, but every day. Two must move to set aside The mountains in the way. Two must act to take apart The walls of me and you, Just as in the act of love One's joy brings joy to two. Just as love's pure ecstasy Makes others' joys our own, Just so will love in daily life Make sweet green fields of stone. Lust for one you love Is like a garden flower That must be pruned and weeded Before it yields its treasure. Years refine its grace, But only with devotion And much imagination To freshen the familiar. But, ah! what then the freedom That comes alone from giving And knowing that your wishes Will be your lover's pleasure! For in the utmost chamber Lust is quickly sated While love still craves redemption, Ever the lost savior. Love means more when life is hard And choices lead to sacrifice, And every passion has its price In duties paid and windows barred. Though I have loved for many years, Love is still for me a spring That will from stone sweet fragrance bring, And make a garden of our tears. The love of children, children's children, Flowing to the distant verge, Flowing from the ancient urge To make a home of wilderness, Has been my joy, my inner dance Of ecstasy, as day by day I move the mountains in my way And claim through love the gifts of chance. Love is never easy, but It turns life into song. There is no bit of circumstance That love cannot transform. There is no weary moment Of anger or despair That love cannot convert to grace And render whole and fair. How passionate the paradise That comes from knowing well That someone in your happiness Finds pleasure for himself. How sweet the gift of giving to Someone who gives to you, A selflessness that gives to self More self than self is due. With all the searing madness of The world from day to day, And all the dreary sadness that No joy can take away, There is one truth more beautiful Than anyone can bear: That two can trust that when they turn They'll find the other there. |