What Is Love?

Love is the passion which endureth,
Which neither time nor absence cureth;
Which nought of earthly change can sever:
Love is the light which shines forever.

What cold and selfish breasts deem madness
Lives in its depths of joy and sadness:
In hearts, on lips of flame it burneth;
One is its world–to one it turneth.

Its chain of gold–what hand can break it?
Its deathless hold–what force can shake it?
Mere passion aught of earth can sever,
But souls that love–love forever.

by M.L.
(taken from “The Keepsake”–London, 1829)