All About Love

The very essence of love demands that we give it away.

Woodeene Koenig-Bricker
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Hello Rose
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Yesterday I took a long, painful walk to deliver two pictures I have entered in an art exhibit. One of them, entitled "The Blues," is a painting I decided not to sell. It hung in a gallery for about a year with a Not For Sale sign on it. The Blues has a special place in my life and my heart. It was my first abstract painting and I cherish it for the beauty and courage it gave me. Mysterious things happened when I painted it. I have vowed that I would never sell it.

But when I got to the exhibit space today I put a modest price tag on it. I could have put an exorbitant price on it thereby assuring that no one would buy it. But then I thought maybe someone might love and cherish it as much as I do.

Think of the small price you pay to go into a major art museum. For the cost of admission you get to see some of the greatest art in the world. When you think about it it's a remarkable bargain.

On the way home I was thinking that if someone actually wanted to own that picture and let it adorn their wall then every time they look at it and every time a friend. or visitor comes into it's presence it will speak of the same mysteries and beauty it spoke to me as I painted it. It would be well worth the price.

I will probably bring it home with me after the exhibit. If not I will be pleased that someone owns it.

I hsve given away some of my art work in the past: to David, Paula, Karme and Dr. Goldenthal. So I'm not against giving my work away to the deserving parties. And there's one I want to give to a certain woman in New Hampshire, once I get it framed.

To give things you love to the people you love doesn't mean they are going to love them as much, but it's the giving part that is important. Whatever it is, the giving of it surrounds it with an aura that's more important than the thing itself. There is a halo over a gift of love.
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When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
'Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.'
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
'The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.'
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

(A. E. Housman)

Ah, yes, to give your heart away is risky business. To give your love to someone is a vitally important maneuver through the waves and tides of one's emotional life. It is lighting a fire on a mountain top, a signal to the sky, the opening of a castle door, climbing a treacherous cliff to bring back a prize for someone, surrounding a life with goodness and beauty, standing watch, beckoning to invisible blessings, writing florescent letters in the sand, gathering wild flowers and wild ideas, fluffing up the pillow, clearing up the chaos, trying, testing, crying, laughing, benefiting, comforting, caring.

Sometimes there is heartbreaking. And that is one of life's cruelest but most valuable lessons. After the heartbreak let love become stronger. And let your heart break when you are two and twenty. Then get over it and get on with life. That's this wise man's advice.

Dana Bate - The Vagabond

Never Give Up.

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AUTUMN QUESTION


What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?

3 answers so far.

dbdacoba@aol.com

I await your answers.
DB
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