So I find every pleasant spot In which we two were wont to meet, The field, the chamber, and the street, For all is dark where thou art not
Interpretation
The quote expresses deep longing and sorrow in the absence of a loved one.
In this quote, Tennyson conveys the profound impact of love and loss. He reflects on the happy memories shared in various places with a loved one, yet he emphasizes the darkness and emptiness he feels in their absence, highlighting how love transforms even the simplest locations into meaningful spaces. The imagery evokes both nostalgia and heartache, illustrating the inseparable bond between love and place.
In practice
This quote can be shared at a memorial service to honor the memory of a loved one.
Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For though from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
Earth is dry to the centre,_x000D_ But spring, a new comer,_x000D_ A spring rich and strange,_x000D_ Shall make the winds blow_x000D_ Round and round,_x000D_ Thro' and thro',_x000D_ Here and there,_x000D_ Till the air_x000D_ And the ground_x000D_ Shall be fill'd with life anew.
O love, O fire! once he drew With one long kiss my whole soul through My lips, as sunlight drinketh dew.
But thy strong Hours indignant work’d their wills, And beat me down and marr’d and wasted me, And tho’ they could not end me, left me maim’d To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. - Tithonus
When she smiles, it feels like the first warm day of March-- after an eternity of snow, when you suddenly remember how summer feels on the backs of your bare calves & in the part of your hair.
What a test that is: more than devotion, admiration, passion. If you long and long for someone’s company you love them.
Bride: A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her.
To love very much is to love inadequately; we love-that is all. Love cannot be modified without being nullified. Love is a short word but it contains everything. Love means the body, the soul, the life, the entire being. We feel love as we feel the warmth of our blood, we breathe love as we breathe the air, we hold it in ourselves as we hold our thoughts. Nothing more exists for us. Love is not a word; it is a wordless state indicated by four letters.
The choice that frees or imprisons us is the choice of love or fear. Love liberates. Fear imprisons.
I never yet did hear, That the bruis'd heart was pierced through the ear
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