THE ANATOMY OF LOVE

The only poet I’ve ever found who comes incredibly close to expressing the joys of love, marriage, and kissing is Kahlil Gibran – the most phenomenal and most wise of beings who gave his words for us on this Earth. I am blissfully enraptured in Perth, Australia, awaiting the arrival of my precious husband in one week! What love is here.

OF THE FIRST LOOK

“It is that moment that divides the intoxication of Life from the awakening.  It is the first flame that lights up the inner domain of the heart.  It is the first magic note plucked on the silver string of the heart.  It is that brief moment that unfolds before the soul the chronicles of time, and reveals to the eyes the deeds of the night, and the works of conscience.  It opens Eternity’s secrets of the future.  It is the seed cast by Ishtar, goddess of Love, and sown by the eyes of the beloved in the field of Love, brought forth by affection, and reaped by the Soul.  The first glance from the eyes of the beloved is like the spirit that moved upon the face of the waters, giving birth to heaven and earth, when the Lord spoke and said, “Let there be.” ‘

OF THE FIRST KISS

“It is the first sip from the cup filled by the goddess with the nectar of Life.  It is the dividing line between Doubt that beguiles the spirit and saddens the heart, and Certitude that floods the inner self with joy. It is the beginning of the song of Life and the first act in the drama of the Ideal Man.  It is the bond that unites the strangeness of the past with the brightness of the future; the link between the silence of the feelings and their song.  It is a word uttered by four lips proclaiming the heart a throne, Love a King, and fidelity a crown.  It is the gentle touch of the delicate fingers of the breeze on the lips of the rose-uttering a long sigh of relief and a sweet moan. It is the beginning of that magic vibration that carries the lovers from the world of weights and measures into the world of dreams and revelations.’

“It is the union of two fragrant flowers; and the mingling of their fragrance toward the creation of a third soul.  As the first glance is like a seed sown by the goddess in the field of the human heart, so the first kiss is the first flower at the tip of the branch of the Tree of Life. ‘

 OF MARRIAGE

“Here love begins to render the prose of Life into hymns and canticles of praise, with music that is set by night, to be sung in the day. Here Love’s longing draws back the veil, and illumines the recesses of the heart, creating a happiness that no other happiness can surpass but that of the Soul when she embraces God. Marriage is the union of two divinities that a third might be born on earth. It is the union of two souls in a strong love for the abolishment of separateness. It is that higher unity which fuses the separate unities within the two spirits. It is the golden ring in a chain whose beginning is a glance, and whose ending is Eternity. It is the pure rain that falls from an unblemished sky to fructify and bless the fields of divine Nature.’

“As the first glance from the eyes of the beloved is like a seed sown in the human heart, and the first kiss of her lips like a flower upon the branch of the Tree of Life, so the union of two lovers in marriage is like the first fruit of the first flower of that seed.’

~ Kahlil Gibran