Love Knot

(22 June - 9 July 1993) after Alfred Noyes

I won’t be your Romeo; please don’t be my Juliet. Those kids weren’t “star crossed”; they were betrayed by parents and friends, and, worse than even that, themselves. Of course they were very young; we wouldn’t have that excuse. They were too young to know better, but old enough to be carried away on the wings of eager hormones. At least we’ve been there before and somehow we survived, so maybe we can remember, when we get blown off course, how to find our way back home. It’s not easy being happy. You can come to that conclusion from reading the daily paper. How we have ever been happy could be just dumb luck, a delicate balance of circumstances that any misstep could upset. Where the way is unrestricted the mind invents limits. The trouble with the Montegue and the Capulet children was they had it made. You and I are lucky, then, because we’ve been exposed to poverty and cruelty. Because we’ve worked for what we have, we can work to get it back. The passion of love is fine with me. Moderation in all things— even in moderation.