OpinionsNurse TalesHow do I love thee?

How do I love thee?

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Do you believe in true love? Do you believe in love at first sight? Do you believe in a love lasting love forever?

The famous love stories in history and literature that I share here may reinforce or renew our faith in love: The first one is a story of two poets, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning who fell in love. Elizabeth was an accomplished and respected poet, who was in poor health by the time she was 40 years old. They courted in secret, got married in 1846 despite opposition from Barrett’s family. They lived among fellow artists for the rest of Elizabeth’s life. She died in Robert Browning’s arms in 1861.

It all started with a letter which Robert sent to Elizabeth: “I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett.” And “praising their fresh strange music and affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought.” She wrote, “I am not of a cold nature and cannot bear to be treated coldly. When cold water is thrown upon a hot iron, the iron hisses.” Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s (1806-1861) famous poem published in 1847 from Poems, in Sonnets of the Portuguese (Sonnet 43)

How do I love thee, let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee for the passion put to use
in my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

The second love story is that of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. “In 1612, a teenage girl, Arjumand Banu, married 15-year-old Shah Jahan, ruler of the Mughal empire. Renamed Mumtaz Mahal, Arjumand bore Shah Jahan 14 children, and became his favorite wife. After Mumtaz died in 1629, the grieving emperor resolved to build a fitting monument. It took 20,00 workers and 1,000 elephants nearly 20 years to complete this monument – The Taj Mahal. Shah Jahan was never able to complete a black marble mausoleum he planned for himself. Deposed by his son, Shah Jahan was imprisoned in the Fort of Agra, and spent lonely hours staring across the Yamuna River at the monument to his beloved queen. He was eventually buried beside her in Taj Mahal.”

There are many more famous love stories which we have read on our own as well as learned in our English classes. We read, dramatized, and produced plays, as a requirement/project in our classes. Songs were also composed and movies were produced, too. Everyone loves to watch or read a love story. One cannot help but identify with the characters as the story progresses.

The Holy Bible is also replete with verses about love: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

So Eat, Pray, Love and have a “forever” in your life.

_____________________________

Author’s email: [email protected]

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