- You were born together, and together you shall
be forevermore.
- You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter
your days.
- Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
- But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
- And let the winds of heavens dance between you.
- Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
- Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your
souls.
- Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
- Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same
loaf.
- Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of
you be alone,
- Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver
with the same music.
- Give your hearts, but not into each
other’s keeping.
- For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
- And stand together yet not too near together:
- For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
- And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each
other’s shadow.
- *
- Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
- But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be
your desires:
- To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody
to the night.
- To know the pain of too much tenderness.
- To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
- And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
- To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for
another day of loving;
- To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
- To return home at eventide with gratitude;
- And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your
heart and a song of praise on your lips.