Photo: © D. Paul Graham, “SWAK”, 2024

“Monday 5 Things”™ ….. SWAK. A Love Primer …..

We received a thank you card in the mail and on the back of the envelope was granddaughter inspired artistry, with “SWAK” in large letters. This was a new word/acronym to me that LA educated me on. As we are a couple of days away from Valentine’s Day, last week I spent some time reading love letters from famous artists, writers, and composers. The words from centuries ago are simply beautiful literature that hopeless romantics everywhere can learn from. This morning’s M5T provides a love primer if you would, that should inspire not just for a day in February, but every day of our relationships. And all of these are Sealed With A Kiss.

1. Composed Love.

“My Every note I compose, every melody I craft, is but an echo of the song that plays in my heart when I think of you. Our love is the symphony that resonates through the concert halls of my soul. In your laughter, I find the delicate trill of the flute, in your sighs, the mournful cry of the violin. You are my muse, my magnum opus, my eternal serenade. With deepest affection, Wolfgang.” Amadeus Mozart

2. Love at Last.

“My dearest, When two souls, which have sought each other for, however long in the throng, have finally found each other …a union, fiery and pure as they themselves are… begins on earth and continues forever in heaven. This union is love, true love, … a religion, which deifies the loved one, whose life comes from devotion and passion, and for which the greatest sacrifices are the sweetest delights. This is the love which you inspire in me… Your soul is made to love with the purity and passion of angels; but perhaps it can only love another angel, in which case I must tremble with apprehension. Yours forever, Victor Hugo (1821)”

3. The First Notebook Love.

“My Most Illustrious, In the tapestry of the universe, where every star is a brushstroke and every galaxy a testament to the mysteries of existence, it is our intertwining souls that captivate my Renaissance mind. With every invention I conceptualize, every painting I bring to life, there lies the shadow of your influence. The Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile pales in comparison to the allure of your laughter, the twinkle in your eye. Our conversations, deep and profound, are the Vitruvian Man of my existence, a perfect balance of heart and intellect. You are the golden ratio in the complex geometry of my life. With unwavering admiration, Leonardo.” Davinci not DiCaprio

4. A Moveable Feast of Love.

“In a world that often feels like a series of short stories – fragmented, raw, and brimming with unsaid words – you are my epic. A tale that spans continents, filled with adventure, passion, and the intoxicating dance of love and war. Like the rivers I’ve crossed and the bulls I’ve seen charge, the depth and force of my feelings for you are both fierce and relentless. With you, every moment is a novel waiting to be penned, every glance a sentence filled with layers of unspoken longing. Forever in pursuit, Ernest” Hemingway.

5. Agape Love.

“I already love in you your beauty, but I am only beginning to love in you that which is eternal and ever previous – your heat, your soul. Beauty one could get to know and fall in love with in one hour and cease to love it as speedily; but the soul one must learn to know. Believe me, nothing on earth is given without labour, even love, the most beautiful and natural of feelings.” Leo Tolstoy to Valeria Arsenev (1856)

Here’s to a week of many SWAK’s and finding just the right words to express the love you feel.  Happy Valentine’s Day.

© 2024 D. Paul Graham, all rights reserved.

For over 12 years, D. Paul Graham has published “Monday 5 Things” ™, also known to readers as M5T.

You can reach Paul by email at dpg@imagegraham.com