695. We are most alive when we’re in love. ~John Updike

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Tell me how many beads there are
In a silver chain 
of evening rain,
Unravelled from the tumbling main,
And threading the eye of a yellow star: –
So many times do I love again.
~Thomas Lovell Beddoes

Screen shot 2015-04-06 at 12.16.10 PM

I have been in love more times than one,
thank the Lord. Sometimes it was lasting
whether active or not. Sometimes
it was all but ephemeral, maybe only
an afternoon, but not less real for that.
They stay in my mind, these beautiful people,
or anyway beautiful people to me, of which
there are so many. You, and you, and you,
whom I had the fortune to meet, or maybe
missed. Love, love, love, it was the
core of my life, from which, of course, comes
the word for the heart. And, oh, have I mentioned
that some of them were men and some were women
and some — now carry my revelation with you —
were trees. Or places. Or music flying above
the names of their makers. Or clouds, or the sun
which was the first, and the best, the most
loyal for certain, who looked so faithfully into
my eyes, every morning. So I imagine
such love of the world — its fervency, its shining, its
innocence and hunger to give of itself — I imagine
this is how it began.
~Mary Oliver

In Your unfailing love You will lead the people You have redeemed. In Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling. ~Exodus 15:13   ✝

**Image via Pinterest

23 thoughts on “695. We are most alive when we’re in love. ~John Updike”

  4. You find the perfect scripture every day Natalie, and the poetry is perfect for it. And it always touches a place in my life that needs to be touched. Thank you. Hugs and love, A.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I’ve been in love a few times LMS, it may not have been reciprocated but I was in love. 🙂
    Love’n Hugs
    Laurence

    Like

    Reply

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