Love After Love

Sometimes when you need it, a song and a poem come along to provide comfort for the painful heartbreak in romance. Confused and puzzled, we stumble upon answers, or we call these meaningful coincidences by it's rightful name: synchronicity.
These two healing works of art, a song and a poem, found me on the same night when I was trying to understand the sorrow of love.

   First the song "Most of the Time" - a beautiful cover of a Bob Dylan gem by Sophie Zelmani.
Bob is mourning the loss of a relationship that for him is not really over. Sophie changes a few words to make us feel the emotional pain and heartache. It is a study in a farewell to love, with lots of regret.

Next, the poem by Derek Walcott called Love After Love reminds us we can recover from the hurt of love.  You can read the poem here, but the meaning has a greater emotional wallop when read by the poet David Whyte.
It is a comforting poem that acknowledges the hurt and the salvation that love brings. The love after love, refers to the need to love yourself again and to a future that will include another love. We never forget our lovers, but the hurt can be forgotten.

"Peel your own image from the mirror"

 I cannot improve upon these comments written about this poem by Elizabeth Gilbert:

"Here in these lines is a small banquet for your soul."