Love at First Sight (Chagall and Bella)

What is clear when looking at the paintings of Marc Chagall is that he loved his wife, Bella. Even when her back is toward him, he will twist her head backwards in some of the paintings, as if to say, I never want to lose sight of you.
    The fusion of love and art reveals that true love is both an emotional and a physical contemplation. The spirit of their love floats in the air and has wings that take them higher than all buildings on the ground.  There is comfort and companionship with all creatures in nature and those that are fanciful.
   Chagall's paintings of his wife Bella reveal an endless love. Without hearing her voice or even knowing much about her, we see his love for her and feel their inseparable connection.

Marc Chagall rhapsodized, “Her silence is mine. Her eyes, mine. I feel she has known me always, my childhood, my present life, my future; as if she were watching over me, divining my innermost being, though this is the first time I have seen her. I knew this is she, my wife.”
  

"Wedding" - Marc Chagall (1918)

In this portrait of their wedding, we see some heart-winged figure above them (their little daughter, Ida, born in 1916) and on Bella's cheek, a reflection of a human figure, depicting perhaps or foretelling the great artist he would become. 

9/11 Tribute

   Love cannot be buried beneath rubble or destroyed by flames of fire. Love enters into our souls and stays with us beyond all years and lives with us in an eternal embrace. The Japanese writer Haruki Murakami put it this way:
   

              “What we call the present is given shape by an accumulation of the past.”

   Love accumulates inside us, growing stronger with every year of remembrance. 

A book to remember a beloved husband, killed in the Twin Towers, called Where You Left Me, is a beautiful tribute to love.

                                 

In a Certain Light, As After Rain
--Carolyn Forche

I can see you descending.
You step just on the toes
of your shoes like a faery,
like horses doing dressage,
touching the earth with only
the fine points of their hooves,
as I dabble with cleaning
solution, Tide for the laundry,
in the house where you left me,
after the rabid rain,
unable to let go of the single bird
singing or the rain-specked world.

Here Comes the Sun

      When you feel the warm sun in the morning, it is the same warmth you get when you are surrounded by love.  That morning sun makes birds sing. That morning sun is a special type of sunlight. It boosts the metabolism.
 According to a Chicago university study, the prime time to bask in the sun is between 8 AM and 12 noon. 

The study found that those who benefited most from the early morning sunlight were those exposed to more than 500 lux. (Lux is a unit of light measurement) To help you understand, the brightest indoor lighting only goes up to 500 lux, while dim indoor lighting can go as low as 150 lux. Sunlight STARTS at 1,000 lux, and increases as the day gets brighter.  

  There is generally a higher amount of blue light (shorter wavelength) in the morning. Blue light has been shown to have the strongest effect on the circadian system and metabolism.

    So look for love at night and in the bright morning sun. With every new day, we experience new light. If we are lucky, our love stays the same and has a brighter effect on us in the sunlight.

YOU RAISE ME UP

    The composer of this song, Rolf Lovland, from the Irish-Norwegian duo Savage Garden,  song said of this song "“there's something about the song people are embracing - which becomes emotionally strong".  What is clear is that if you see love in the lyrics, the words guide you to a deeper appreciation of how love transforms us.

           When I am down and, oh, my soul, so weary;
                When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
          Then I am still and wait here in the silence,
           Until you come and sit awhile with me.

    The singer of this song, Martin Hurkens, from Holland, lost his job as a baker and decided to go to the streets to sing for money. He had mouths to feed. The different couples who stopped to listen to him are sharing something beautiful together.
  When love reaches into your heart and you are changed by it, you feel no violence, you feel only joy.  That joy bursts forth despite our circumstance.
 Perhaps another , Dutchman said it best.
    "What is done in love, is done well. " - Vincent van Gogh

A Pair of Lovers - Vincent van Gogh

 

Monsters of the Sky

"A great flame follows a little spark."   

  ~Dante Alighieri (from the book "The Divine Comedy" )

  Some people call the piercing storms with thunder and lightning "The Monsters of the Sky".
That sudden spark of light lights up the sky. It can be terrifying or beautiful depending on your perspective, age and understanding. We are more vulnerable during a thunderstorm and we must take cover for protection and safety.
    But from a little spark, the lightning of love can brighten our paths. We take shelter in each other. The sounds of thunder are intense heartbeats and the lightning is a wave of energy that brighten the sky like a haunting flame.

Love is a great power and illuminates our lives in the same way that lightning does. It is a majestic or divine source of energy. When it is the right kind of love, "there exists no other truth".  Like the thunder, we are tossed about by our passions.
via Save a Quote <http://www.saveaquote.com/poems/authors-poems/poem-237098>

You and I Have Learned

   The actor Leonard Nimoy was also a poet. In this poem, read beautifully and with  great compassion, by Seth Hunter Perkins, Nimoy is also a teacher. He wants to share the miracle of his love with us.
   He says simply, "If you want to love, learn the love song."
   This love song he describes is "ageless" and his lesson on loving is composed of sharing and giving.
     We are here on this earth to experience many thing and share many things. Love is a strong part of  our experience.
     Find your love song, learn to sing it, and be grateful. If you learn to "sing it well", tell others about it. Pass that feeling on to others. Our learning, like our love, never ends.
 

Losing My Mind

How do you know when you love somebody? It certainly seems composer Stephen Sondheim has answered that question when he wrote the song Losing My Mind for his Broadway musical Follies.

  "The sun comes up,

   I think about you.

  The coffee cup, 

  I think about you..."

  

    When  you are in  love, you think of that other person constantly. You feel their presence everywhere. You find them in the dazzling starlight, in the shape of the shadows at twilight, and in the early morning sunlight.

   I like when Barbara Cook says "I think I sing it better now, then I did in 1985."

When love comes to your mind, does it bring sleepless nights?

  

                                                                   Stephen Sondheim Interview