Love is not proof

[PrinceMyshkin]

Measure your worth by the number you love.
Those who love you
are free to do the same
if they wish, but that is not the point..
To love is the most quiet thing you can do.

There is no clamour in love.
It is not proof
of anything.

[Twota]

So sweet and true, ''To love is the most quiet thing you can do.''

[cl154576]

It's a bit too didactic I think, but the ideas are very nice ... Try rephrasing them a little, maybe.

[everyadventure]

Once again I am left studying all the nuances of a Prince sentence! This poem intrigues me, I read it again and again and keep asking, "Is it true?" It's said with such authority and conviction that it's hard to believe otherwise!

But then, you leave the reader with the question: if love is not proof of anything, then... what is it? You imply that you are a better person if you love more people, but you have failed to explain why such a thing would be true. You have said what love isn't, but not what it is.

You've got me thinking, my friend...

[Hawkman]

Should one value one's worth by the number of people for whom we feel love? Well it depends a bit on how one defines love. Love can be selfish and it can be altruisitic Surely it means something if you can inspire others to love you...

Live and be well H

[Varenne Rodin]

Is love a fancy, or a feeling? No.
It is immortal as immaculate Truth,
'Tis not a blossom shed as soon as youth,
Drops from the stem of life--for it will grow,
In barren regions, where no waters flow,
Nor rays of promise cheats the pensive gloom.
A darkling fire, faint hovering o'er a tomb,
That but itself and darkness nought doth show,
It is my love's being yet it cannot die,
Nor will it change, though all be changed beside;
Though fairest beauty be no longer fair,
Though vows be false, and faith itself deny,
Though sharp enjoyment be a suicide,
And hope a spectre in a ruin bare.

- Hartley Coleridge

The poem I responded with doesn't have much to do with how or what love makes a person worth, but I take it to mean that anyone can be worthy of or ensnared by love. Thus, it is my answer to the questions I felt were posed by your poem.

Thought provoking, as EA said.

[hallaig]

Gentle rebuke, perhaps, to those of us who wear our hearts on our sleeves?

You obviously don't follow the Verve, Prince, who think Love is Noise!

[PrinceMyshkin]

Many thanks to all of you.

[firefangled]

Measure your worth by the number you love.
Those who love you
are free to do the same
if they wish, but that is not the point..
To love is the most quiet thing you can do.

There is no clamour in love.
It is not proof
of anything.


I would be content with the last three lines as your poem. They say everything before them.

I am reminded of the closing verse of a cummings poem:

If we love each (shyly)
other, what clouds do or Silently
Flowers resembles beauty
less than our breathing.

[Delta40]

L1,6,7,& 8 make this a gem of wisom Prince and I love the depth of your brevity.

[tailor STATELY]

Splendid poem PrinceMyshkin.

To everyadventure's query:
You imply that you are a better person if you love more people, but you have failed to explain why such a thing would be true. one of my favorite lyrics by the Scorpions comes to mind: "The more love you give, the more you'll find". ref: http://lyrics.wikia.com/Scorpions:China_White

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[paperleaves]

So wise :)