Are You There?
Each lover has some theory of his own
About the difference between the ache
About the difference between the ache
Of being with his love, and being alone:
Why what, when dreaming, is dear flesh and bone
That really stirs the senses, when awake,
Appears a simulacrum of his own.
Narcissus disbelieves in the unknown;
He cannot join his image in the lake
So long as he assumes he is alone.
The child, the waterfall, the fire, the stone,
Are always up to mischief, though, and take
The universe for granted as their own.
The elderly, like Proust, are always prone
To think of love as a subjective fake;
The more they love, the more they feel alone.
Whatever view we hold, it must be shown
Why every lover has a wish to make
Some kind of otherness his own:
Perhaps, in fact, we never are alone.
~ W.H. Auden
(1907~1973)
Love Letter ~
Marsha Karagheusian
We love the 'other' because we are in love with our 'self'. The same 'self' is being manifested in the form of the 'other'. Infact there is only one 'self'. The petty little 'self' which thinks itself as being apart from what is there in front of the eye, will never know what it is to be considerate and understanding, forget about love. It may think that it is in love like oscar pistorius thought of his relationship with reeva steenkamp. But soon it could reassert its pettiness and show its brutality. Unless there is a systematic effort to get rid of the petty little self, the brutality in oneself or in the world outside, which is only a reflection of the inside, is not going to end. Till then, the words of A.H.Auden or anybody else will continue to fall on deaf ears as they have been falling for time immemorial.
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