Love's Philosophy

Fountain in Atlanta, 2013, Jeniffer Sams

The fountains mingle with the river   

And the rivers with the ocean,   

The winds of heaven mix for ever   

With a sweet emotion;   

Nothing in the world is single, 

All things by a law divine   

In one another's being mingle—   

Why not I with thine?   

 

Psyche ranimee par le baiser de l'Amour, Antonio Canova, Musee du Louvre, Paris

See the mountains kiss high heaven,   

And the waves clasp one another; 

No sister-flower would be forgiven   

If it disdain'd its brother;   

And the sunlight clasps the earth,   

And the moonbeams kiss the sea—   

What is all this sweet work worth 

If thou kiss not me? 

Cupid and Psyche, 1891, Annie Louisa Robinson Swynnerton

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Indian Serenade

Lake of Longing, 2008, Veronica Atanacio

I arise from dreams of thee   

  In the first sweet sleep or night, 

When the winds are breathing low,   

  And the stars are shining bright:

I arise from dreams of thee,   

  And a spirit in my feet 

Has led me- who knows how?  

  To thy chamber-window, sweet!  

The wandering airs they faint   

  On the dark, the silent stream-

The champak odors fail   

  Like sweet thoughts in a dream; 

The nightingale's complaint,   

  It dies upon her heart-

As I must die on thine,   

  Oh, beloved as thou art!  

Oh, lift me from the grass!   

  I die! I faint! I fail! 

Let thy love in kisses rain   

  On my lips and eyelids pale. 

My cheek is cold and white, alas!   

  My heart beats loud and fast-

Oh! press it close to thine own again,   

  Where it will break at last!

~by Percy Bysshe Shelley