Love Song

Piero della Francesca, Federico da Montefeltro with his wife Battista Sforza, 1472, The Uffizzi Gallery, Florence

How shall I hold my soul

to not intrude upon yours? How shall I

lift it beyond you to other things?

I would gladly lodge it

with lost objects in the dark,

in some far still place

that does not tremble when you tremble.

But all that touches us, you and me,

plays us together, like the bow of a violin

that from two strings draws forth one voice.

On what instrument are we strung?

What musician is playing us?

Oh sweet song.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Paris Bordone, The Couple, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Frida Kahlo, Frida and Diego Rivera, 1931, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Toulouse-Lautrec, The Bed, 1920s, Musee d’Orsay, Paris

Roy Lichtenstein, The Kiss, 1962, David Geffen Collection, Los Angeles