Monday, November 5, 2012

The Clod and the Pebble

In one respect, there are many types of love - philia, agape, eros, caritas, xenia. In another, there are only two - love of self and love of another. I think of these Blake lines often and try for non-pebblishness:

"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a heaven in hell's despair."

So sung a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven's despite."

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