“A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here:” Love bade me welcome yet my soul drew back,īut quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack How to live with the transcendent terror of love is what the seventeenth-century metaphysical poet, priest, and musician George Herbert (April 3, 1593–March 1, 1633) explores in one of his poems - poems composed in the hope that they might “turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul.” Reaching across space and time the way only art can, the poem’s final line went on to inspire the final line of Derek Walcott’s superb “Love After Love,” composed nearly four centuries later. Art by Sophie Blackall from Things to Look Forward to In love’s mirror, we are revealed to ourselves, stripped of the ego’s flattering self-image, our vulnerabilities and inadequacies laid bare - a revelation laced with the sublime, both beautiful and terrifying to the bone. What we long for reflects both our limitations and our restless yearning to transcend them. What we desire reflects what we believe we deserve. How much and how well we show up for love reflects what we believe ourselves worthy of. Love is both the tenderest mirror and the cruelest.
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