A Poetic Love Story

“This is what poets wrote about for hundreds of years….a love story like yours, truly beautiful.” 

A couple of weeks after settling into post-wedding reality, I posted the picture above from our blessed day. I must admit that I’m in LOVE with black and white photos….particularly this one. Without all of the colorful distractions, they manage to convey the true depth of emotion and humanity in a moment. They make you feel like you really understand the people and the situation shown.  

A few days after posting this photo I received the comment just underneath it from my friend, Kat. I remember reading her comment late one night while I was lying in bed. And I smiled. As a writer, I can’t imagine a more exquisite remark than the one she gave for that photo.

Naturally being a writer and former English major, I’ve read and analyzed some of the great literary works of our time that center on love. I’ve read Shakespeare’s heart-rending Romeo and Juliet, classical novels like Mary Shelley’s Valperga, Jane Austin’s Persuasion, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. And of course I’ve ready some of the most romantic lines ever written in poems like Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee?”, Christina Rossetti’s “I Wish I Could Remember,” Lord Byron’s “She Walks In Beauty” and Shakespeare’s Sonnets 18 and 116.  

I could spend all day listing off all of the plays, short stories, novels, poems, songs and even love letters I’ve read and analyzed. But if I had to sum up what I’ve learned from all of them it would be this: Love isn’t pretty, easy, or simple…..but it is worth it every single time—even when it doesn’t last. Love can’t ever truly be defined, contained, or fully understood…..but of all the art forms that have strived to do just that, I do believe that writers have come the closest. 

True love stories, like the ones writers have written about for hundreds of years, are always wrought with failure, heartache, seemingly impossible challenges and unfavorable circumstances. But the thing is—those are the stories and poems we always come back to and want to read again. Why? Because you can relate to the people and circumstances in them. Because they aren’t perfect. Because they are equally beautiful and hideous tales all at the same time. Because when you get done reading one of those stories, even if it doesn’t end with a happily ever after, you still can’t help but think about how amazing love is and wish for the very same thing for yourself someday.   

When I look back on mine and Andy's love story thus far, I realize that it really is like one of the stories the great poets wrote about. Because it has been filled with mistakes and circumstances that worked tirelessly to tear us apart. But it was has also overflowed with persistence, friendship, and more unconditional love than I could ever have hoped to find. 

When I think about our love story, the picture above is the one I will always keep in my mind now. Because what that picture is, is a true image of love…..devoid of colorful distractions and insignificant details. It is just two people who’ve miraculously found each other and chose to spend their days stumbling along all of life’s bumpy paths hand in hand.