Orts #912
three for Valentines Day
Love is the very difficult understanding that something other than yourself is real.
-- Iris Murdoch
_________
definition of love, Oxford English Dictionary:
That disposition or state of feeling with regard to a person which (arising from recognition of attractive qualities, from instincts of natural relationship, or from sympathy) manifests itself in solicitude for the welfare of the object, and usually also in delight in his or her presence and desire for his or her approval.
_________
Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side,
Withstand the winter's storm,
And spite of wind and tide,
Grow up the meadow's pride,
For both are strong
Above they barely touch, but undermined
Down to their deepest source,
Admiring you shall find
Their roots are intertwined
Insep'rably.
-- Thoreau, the final stanzas of a poem, Friendship