"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."
-- From "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" by Louis de Bernieres, as quoted at the Williamson/Birusingh wedding in Iowa this weekend.
3 comments:
This is such a lovely, and wholly appropriate quote to use at a wedding (sniff!). I loved it.
Louis de Bernieres lives just down the road from me in the Old Rectory in the next village. He was invited to present the awards at the High School speech day a couple of years ago - instead of a speech, he read out one of his short stories. Went down very well.
CampusLady,
It's true, we were all in floods of tears.
xx Miss W
Z,
What an amazing neighbor. I haven't read any of his short stories, must amend that.
Thanks for your comment!
xx Miss W
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