Monday 14 September 2009

Temporary madness?



As I wrote yesterday, the wedding on Saturday was an incredibly emotional day for me (and everyone else present). There were only 30 people at the wedding ceremony and the scale of the intimacy and the close relationship that everyone had with the Bride and Groom resulted in a lot of tears (including the Best Man - a 6ft 3" strapping policeman - bless 'im).

The part that really got to me, however, was the reading. It's from Captain Corelli's Mandolin and it may well be one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard...

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

-St. Augustine


Sigh.