Saturday, September 4, 2010

“LIFE LINES’’

By Jack Reeves

"Take away love and our earth is a tomb."--Robert Browning


As a child, Robert Browning's wife, Elizabeth, was lonely and sickly.

On top of this, her mother died, followed by brothers, then she had a resurgence of illness. For consolation, she began writing poetry.

The majority of her time was spent writing in a darkened room. Her reputation grew but her health deteriorated.

The famous poet Robert Browning admired her poems so much that he wrote her. Their correspondence grew. He began visiting her. They fell in love and became engaged.

Elizabeth's father disapproved, so she and Robert secretly wed. From this time on her father never communicated with her.

From these experiences came the lines below, to her husband, that capture the transforming nature of love.

After they were married, her health remarkably improved. Behold the power of love.

"I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out."--Elizabeth Barrett Browning


2 comments:

Stickup Artist said...

What a beautiful story. The healing and transformative power of love is amazing and very real.

mythopolis said...

It is the building block of life. So many people may be fortunate to find this in their lives. It is a heartache to think of unloved people.