dim reflections

 While passionate love certainly has its benefits, platonic love has the advantage of duration, as well as (constrained) passion. As anyone who knows me well knows how I emanate the Brontes, I find this poem well worth the emphasis that the value of friendship exceeds any fleeting attachment. From Emily Bronte, which sheds particular light on the often too-romanticized perspective on her masterpiece, Wuthering Heights : “Love is like the wild rose-briar, Friendship like the holly-tree – The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms But which will bloom most constantly? The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring, Its summer blossoms scent the air; Yet wait till winter comes again And who will call the wild-briar fair? Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now And deck thee with the holly’s sheen, That when December blights thy brow He may still leave thy garland green.”