Maybe Even Propose To

Whatever or whoever might help you say, "Things aren't so bad..." keep around, maybe even propose to. 

              I really love this line about whoever in your life reminds you of your blessings, keep around. In Yeats' poem, featured below, he pens "I bring you with reverent hands the books of my numberless dreams". That's what a lover should do, remind you of the infinite pages and chapters on which you will write the story of your life.
                 If you are looking for a very romantic trip and live near the Philadelphia area, I recommend checking out this incredible tour the Love Letter Train Tour. You can watch an NBC commentary on it here.

A Poet to his Beloved 

(1899) by W.B. Yeats 

I bring you with reverent hands 

The books of my numberless dreams; 

White woman that passion has worn 

As the tide wears the dove-gray sands, 

And with heart more old than the horn 5

That is brimmed from the pale fire of time: 

White woman with numberless dreams 

I bring you my passionate rhyme. 

Love Letter Train Tour by Mural Arts and Stephen Powers

Heard Your Heart Say

Tell me all I need to know, I think I heard your heart say. 

       Read this wonderful poem by Rilke and let it speak to your heart. Yet everything that touches us, me and you, takes us together like a violin's bow, which draws one voice out of two separate strings.

Love Song By Rainer Maria Rilke

How can I keep my soul in me, 

so that it doesn't touch your soul? 

How can I raise it high enough, 

past you, to other things?

I would like to shelter it, among remote

lost objects, in some dark and silent place

that doesn't resonate when your depths resound.

Yet everything that touches us, me and you,

takes us together like a violin's bow,

which draws one voice out of two separate strings.

Upon what instrument are we two spanned?

And what musician holds us in his hand?

Oh sweetest song.

Two People Fell In Love, Brad Paisley

Everything I Have Is Also Yours

Everything I Have Is Also Yours

There are so many gifts still unopened from your soul's birthday.
There are so many hand-crafted presents 
that have been sent into your life by God. 

The Beloved does not mind repeating: 
"Everything I have is also yours." 

A lover is a vital performance, 
a sweet breath in one of Creation's favorite songs. 

       There’s something to be said about gifts from our Beloved, and how much they can mean to us. The transient gifts, the new shirt, the better shoes, will fade with time. But what about love letters? About sweet nothings whispered to our soul? About moonlight and sunrises shared in deep embrace? These things have enduring power, they make us feel wanted, needed even. Is it because they take more effort than a glance? An offer for a drink? A quick drop of cash at the local store? With letters, is it because we can revisit their words as many times as we want and treasure the creases we form in our favorite spots? Or is it just because a letter about someone’s love for us touches us in the innermost part, where we are deeply human? Where we yearn to be touched by all souls who find common ground with our own?
        Take a listen to this incredibly beautiful love song.

Love, Me (1991), Collin Raye

Asking For The Hand of Marriage

Asking For The Hand of Marriage

When someone becomes quiet in this world,

really quiet, those who aren’t may turn

to them,

even from behind a wall or from a great distance.

It is like a touch they, the unstill, wanted

a touch that can come from the invisible,

come from an intimate region of the benevolent spirit

in someone in true peace.

Unknown to most, one asks for the hand of

marriage wherever their gaze falls.

I have to stop myself here;

sometimes I just cannot help but to cheer

something that has never quite been put into words before,

as that last line

about a “marriage” we always seek.

This is all I can say now.

If there is something in your mind obstructing your vision,
Let someone who can see, read all this to you.  

            This poem is an example of Hafiz being quite cryptic and simultaneously mystical. If we think of marriage as a union, or as our heart's desire to wed with something else, it can be everything that Hafiz has described. I like this song as a "First Dance" song. 

18th Floor Balcony, Blue October

The Subject Tonight Is Love

The Subject Tonight Is Love

The subject tonight is Love

and tomorrow night as well.

As a matter of fact,

I know of no better topic

For us to discuss
Until we die. 

       I love discussing Love. When I’m in a girly mood, I often dream about the future, in which I picture my wedding. As someone who wants to write my own vows, I sometimes google notable odes to a lover or personalized vows written by the couple next door.

      An example I enjoyed reading was the vows of Dan Waber and Jennifer Hill, who were married on Saturday, November 29th, 2008. This is Dan's introductory note: “The vows were basically an alternating list poem with a repeated phrase “I Am Marrying You Because” (also the title). She read all the odd numbered parts, and I read all the even numbered.”

      This is the verse that stood out to me: “I am marrying you because: You still make me feel like we're the man and woman in Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss". Anyone familiar with "The Kiss" will realize it depicts the height of romance. The two lovers seem to blend into one being, making it difficult to determine where one begins and the other ends.

The Kiss, Gustav Klimt, 1908-1909

Companion For Life

Companion For Life
Our union is like this: If you feel cold I would
reach for a blanket to cover our shivering feet.

If hunger comes into your body I would run
to my garden and start digging potatoes.

If you asked for a few words of comfort and
guidance I would quickly kneel by your side
and offer you a whole book. 

If you ever ache with loneliness so much you
weep, I would say,

Here is a rope, tie it around me, I will be
your companion for life.

                   In love, the ultimate achievement seems to be to find a soulmate, a best friend, a spouse - someone to be your companion for life. Blessed are those who find it. 

                   Here is a beautiful story about lifelong love: SHMILY

              

A Man Married To a Blind Woman

A Man Married To a Blind Woman

A man married to a blind woman told her how
beautiful she was every day. And whenever he said
that, she smiled, and her whole body relaxed.

They lived alone at a small remote oasis where
few ever stopped. And whenever someone did he
made sure that no one ever saw his wife,

for a person could openly gasp at her appearance
because she was deformed.

Her husband’s voice and that of her sister, who
would visit a few times a year, were the only
ones she really knew. And she loved her simple
life on the little farm they had.

Appearance, and our relationship, you should
know the truth of those by now: 

If you woke next to me on any day, I would say
to you what he so often did.

My dear, you are so beautiful.


             This is a beautiful poem. It is probably one that many women need to read, with the ever-increasing pressure to present with good looks. Hafiz is so eloquent in saying that Love is so much more. I’ve always been a fan of the compilation “The True Meaning of Love” and I would like to find out who the author actually is.

             I want everyone to take solace in this wonderful line by Kabir (another Sufi poet): “If a mirror ever makes you sad, you should know that it does not know you.”