Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love ’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
- the bard of course
a group of students cornered me as i was shooting at the waterfront last weekend. they explained that it was for an assignment, that they had to pick a random stranger and ask about the meaning of love. they chose me, they said, because i was alone where most of the people walking around were in pairs with their partners. with the moon big and round in the rather cloudy sky, it seemed a romantic walk by the water.
after making sure that my bag was zipped close and belted around my waist, my camera properly strapped to my wrist, and my phone handy inside my coat pocket (a precaution, just in case it was a ruse, or a group or a bunch of teenagers who have nothing better to do), i agreed to a mini-interview wherein i asked them if they knew any of shakespeare's sonnets. pity, they barely remembered any, they replied. so i recited the above sonnet, to an audience of blanked, pimpled-faced youngsters, all five of them, with their phone on movie mode, face down so they're only recording my voice. after a few long seconds of looking at each other and scratching their necks, a brave young man asked exactly what it meant, in my own interpretation. (didn't those kids know about google or wikipedia? snort! snort!)
sometimes people think they are in love. at first they are astonished as to their obvious compatibility. but if a situation changes or occurs within that relationship, or some challenges arise that might threaten that relationship, it is love when both can go through or work through those changes and threats with their feelings for each other remaining unchanged. respect and trust for each other are essential ingredients in a relationship, not just love. all three together in equal parts would endure time and its tests.
they asked many more questions which i answered subjectively of course. i could've easily just told the youngsters that love actually sucks, but i like students who do their assignments and projects diligently, and i was happy to help.
then as i think about it now, heck, "it" wasn't love after all.
week 49 of the 52 portraits of me challenge and the challenge is "love". pffft!
A lovely sonnet. I'm sure they found that the person they chose was much more interesting than they ever thought possible. I think they probably aced their assignment. Great portrait and wonderful story.
They chose an excellent person for their assignment- and imho it is better to learn from a person than google or Wikipedia. Lovely self portrait, as always!
