Saturday, September 3, 2011

Once upon a time

An excerpt from Nicole Krauss's The History of Love:
"Once upon a time there was a boy. He lived in a village that no longer exists, in a house that no longer exists, on the edge of a field that no longer exists, where everything was discovered and everything was possible. A stick could be a sword. A pebble could be a diamond. A tree a castle.

"Once upon a time there was a boy who lived in a house across the field from a girl who no longer exists. They made up a thousand games. She was Queen and he was King. In the autumn light, her hair shone like a crown. They collected the world in small handfuls. When the sky grew dark they parted with leaves in their hair.

Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering. When they were ten he asked her to marry him. When they were eleven he kissed her for the first time. When they were thirteen they got into a fight and for three weeks they didn’t talk. When they were fifteen she showed him the scar on her left breast. Their love was a secret they told no one. He promised her he would never love another girl as long as he lived. ‘What if I die?’ she asked. ‘Even then,’ he said."

Is it too much to ask for this kind of love? I know it's juvenile, a naive sort of love that is comprised of autumn leaves and breathlessness. I know it is light, empty of the trials of adult life, the weight of burden. I know it is silly. But what if it can last forever? What if it's possible to feel this way beyond a season?

Is it too much to ask for this kind of love?

3 comments:

  1. I honestly have tears in my eyes reading this. And I fully believe that Love can last beyond a season.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Even I think this is beautiful, which doesn't come easily. I'm going to copy it and use it for my graphic design project.

    ReplyDelete