Gentle Love

“Come to me, Gentle Love.”

She beckoned him close to her. She could see his shadow fall across her doorway, sensed his hesitance and he halted just before the entrance to her room.

“My feet bring me to you all too easily, but are you certain I am the Love you seek? I may not be the Love for you.

I am not the Love of passion, the flames of ardour that will consume your nights. It seems as if that is a Love more suited for you than my own temperament.”

“You may not be the Love of passion but I have found that passion fades in time. You may not be the flames of ardour, but like all fires, the flames will eventually burn out. You, on the other hand, are comparable to the embers of a fire. And like all embers, given the right spark, will burn brightly once again,” she smiled, almost cheekily.

He stepped a little closer, to her pleasure, but stopped short once again and she could sense his uncertainty.

“My love is constant, but I am uncertain of your heart. Like all of us, each of us is often merely a slice of time, and I am past my prime. I no longer possess the power to drive people to madness, to blind them with the promises they make. I am a different Love now, a quieter, gentler Love, and I am uncertain if those are your wishes.”

“Ah, Love, I desire not madness, or flights of fancy. I have had my share of being swept up by the ideas that have been offered to me, the sweetness of the promises that were said. It is for some, but not me. No longer.” She recalled those early days, the headiness that love often offered, sweet headiness, but now she craved something else, and she suspected that he was more than he seemed to think he was.

“Are you certain you will not regret this Love? I may not be the sun in your sky –” He stepped towards her involuntarily, his voice breaking slightly at that note as she cut him off.

“And the sun burns too brightly, and it does exactly that – it burns. You may not be the sun, but Gentle Love, you are more like the rays of sunlight that stream through the morning windows, that slowly spreads the warmth, without preamble, without fuss.”

“There are so many of us, and we are all so different, that you must be certain that I am the one you seek. It is easy for you, but when we are rejected, we die from heartbreak, and fade away.”

“I want you. I want to grow old with you, for you are a Love that will not fade with time. I seek you, and no one else.

If you will have me, that is.” She lay her arm on his gently, wearing her heart on her sleeve entirely.

He held her tenderly and told her with all the sincerity he could muster. “You have invited me into your heart. And I am yours.”