And if it had been the law of nature
that from pleasure man should derive permanent lasting peace, you had
been happy so long as you lived. But, though you have the faultless life
of the body to enjoy all things of the earth, even as other men, though
in another degree, you have within you something more. There is in your
breast a heart beating--an organ so wonderful in its sensitiveness, so
perfect in its consciousness of good, that the least throb and thrill of
pleasure that it feels is worth years and ages of mere sensual life
enjoyment. The body having tasted of all happiness whereof it is
capable, and having found that it is good, is saturated with its own
ease and enjoys less keenly. But the heart is the border-land between
body and soul. The heart can love and the body can love, but the body
can only love itself; the heart is the wellspring of the lore that goes
beyond self. Therefore your heart awoke.
"Shall I tell you of the first early stirrings of your love? Think you,
because I am gray and loveless, that I have never known youth and
gladness of heart? Ah, I know, better than you can think. It is not
sudden, really, the blossoming out of the tree of life. The small leaves
grow larger and stronger though still closely folded in the bud, until
the bright warmth of the spring makes them burst into bloom.
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