Not-so-timeless Love

    W.H. Auden's love life was scandalous. In his day, being gay was absolutely improper. His marriage to Erika Mann wasn't one of romance, but of convenience. And his affair with fellow poet, Chester Kallman, didn't last.

    So it makes sense that his poem "As  I walked out One Evening", turns love into something depressing and fleeting. Anyone who has ever had a relationship not founded on true Love, Love founded in faith and in the One who stands outside time, knows that it doesn't last. "Until death do us part" is hardly literal, especially in modern and post-modern times. Even then, death is still an ending. Time takes its toll on a relationship, or it makes it stronger.

    Perhaps this is why the dating world has turned into one of brief, passionate battles and one-night-stands. There is no credibility or commitment expected because this "love" isn't expected to last. We've conceded to the idea that "love" is brief. But it wasn't meant to be this way. Hearts that are broken over and over become calloused. Love becomes a meaningless noun. 

    Of course, not all hope is lost. When we look for Love in the right place, it isn't fleeting and painful. It isn't numbing or distracting but can help time move on towards a greater future. One in which time has no lordship.

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