TRIP TO ELTHAM PALACE POEM 29

Love has been said to conquer all. It is a fixation of writers and artists, also reflected in common life. Love has many forms, it has been said - that of the relative, that of the friend, that of the lover. We look for all of these in one partner and sometimes we feel shy of it, but it is always the patterns we make of daily life that bonds us. There is a higher love we look to have as well, reflecting our relationship with the Universe too. One hopes to look to this and find strength that is inside of us regardless, often calling our partner, our better half.

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“He knew these last lines by heart and mouthed them now in the darkness. My reason for life. Not living, but life. That was the touch. And she was his reason for life, and why he must survive.” Ian McEwan

The Statue

Proud before the crowd he stood,

Of bronze and copper he was moulded,

From a cast of giant proportion,

He molten and quick was formed.

Heroic in proportion and terrible in aspect,

He raised his carven shield,

And ready he held his curse sword.

To which armies did his mien give

Command?

On which field did he change the battle’s

Effect to glory?

For whom did his sword fall upon

Mankind to their destruction and end?

In moulded bronze I would form

A statue of you my love,

Upon a pedestal so tall the cities

Boundaries were no caution to you,

An emblem of my love.

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” Lao Tzu