“How do I Love Thee”
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, –I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
—Elizabeth Barret Browning
Are you that friend that spends hours listening to everyone’s relationship issues? You usually give the best relationship advice, but your love life is a mess? You’re perfectly aware that relationships are supposed to bring you peace of mind, but for some strange reason you just can’t control your emotions? Have your friends made any comments about how much you have changed since you started your current relationship? If you can relate to the previous situations, these illustrations may be an eye-opener.
“Aunt Daniela fell in love with the way intelligent women always fall in love: like an idiot.” This famous passage is the opening line from the novel Women with Big Eyes by Mexican writer Ángeles Mastretta, and it is closer to reality than we could ever imagine. It doesn’t matter how intelligent, creative, and intellectually driven you are, you’ll be swept off your feet, blinded by love.
Love conquers all, including reason.
Love sweeps you off your feet, literally. Your mind wanders and the memory of that special person crowds over the rest, taking center stage. Days, months, and years go by, but still that uneasiness prevails, you cannot bear the thought of being separated.
Constant mood swings and continuous unrest. Love blinds and you lose the ability to see beyond yourself. This intense feeling pushes your body to extremes, you are awash with a spine tinkling sensation, at times pleasurable, at times unbearable.
Your wild nature comes forth, butterflies swirling in your stomach like a tornado and little by little you set them free.
Love can be an overpowering emotion that consumes all thoughts, well, at least for a little while.
Lines become blurred, features lose their unique quality and all you can see are the churning emotions. All boundaries disappear and you fall into the pits of love. There are dangerous, endless loves where you lose track of who you are and once were.
You have been blinded by love, you lose sight of the world that surrounds you. You only have eyes for the object of your desire and you drown in dreams and fantasies from which you will never awaken.
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Love is a frenzied butterfly that swoops in and tumbles with the wind. One moment it flutters, spreading its wings and in another, it trembles and falls.
All the illustration were created by German artist Sivan Karim. You can learn and see more of his work in his Instagram page. You can buy his designs here.
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Sources:
Instagram
INAG blog
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Translated by Andrea Valle
