Words Of Love or Lack Thereof...

Monday, February 12, 2007 at the UCSD Women's Center

Folks brought poems and things to share to spark a conversation of love. We talked about love and kinship, settling vs. passion, interracial relationships, the nature of love, and so much more. Check out the pictures below and the poem and literature that Shaun and Betty brought to share. Please add your comments below so that we can keep the conversation going.

From Shaun: On Marriage

Then Almitra spoke again and said…
"And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:

You were born together,
and together you shall be forevermore.

You shall be together when the white wings
of death scatter your days.

Aye, you shall be together even in the
silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the 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 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.

—From "The Prophet" by Khalil Gibran

From Betty:

Rising over him, pressing into him but soaring through the canopy to the
height of the ceiling, stood a dark angel with wings of fire and an upraised
flaming sword. The angel pressed into him heavily so that Juan thought his
chest would crack, but at the same time the creature seemed to be composed
of trembling light or fire. Its gaze was directed straight ahead, in an
attitude not so much of pride as of absolute authority. And Juan knew that
this triumphant angel, the angel of his inner fever, was the terrible angel
of Love, who crushed his victims, destroyed the power of their wills,
humiliated them in every fiber of their being. But it did not stop there.
For like a conqueror who can never be content with mere destruction, the
harsh angel demanded of its victims that they lift their voices in praise.
And Don Juan seemed to hear himself say, as he lay there broken in spirit:
Praise be to you, O fiery one, O angel of my devastation, for without you I
would have known only a terrible calm.

An Adventure of Don Juan

If you were allowed one night of bliss in the arms of Georgiana, followed by
immediately by banishment, or a lifetime of chaste friendship, which would
you choose? If you were permitted to ravish Georgiana night after night for
the next ten years with the knowledge that she despised you, or to leave
tomorrow with the knowledge that she loved you passionately, which would you
choose? Would you love Georgiana if she were a leper? A dwarf? An idiot? If
you were given the choice of leaving Swan Park for thirty years with the
knowledge that when you returned she would love you, or of remaining forever
with the knowledge that nothing would ever change, which would you choose?

—Excerpts from: The king in the tree and other stories, a novel by Steven Milhauser.

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