Memoirs of Love

When anybody talks about love, I often recollect the love stories of the Greeks. The love stories of the Greeks were the romantic tales about the love and passion between Greek gods and goddesses, and mortals and immortals. What I really like about their stories is that a Greek, may he be a god or a mortal, frequently wears his heart on his sleeves. That’s why when they love, expect them to swim seas on stormy nights, traverse the worlds separating them from their sweethearts, or adore voluptuous sculptures.

I’ll never forget the stories of Hero and Leander, Orpheus and Eurydice, and Pygmalion and Galatea. Their stories were unique, fascinating, and out of the ordinary. Swimming on stormy nights is fascinating. Traversing the underworld is really out of the ordinary. Loving a statue is…a little bit…“unique” (and a little absurd, of course, who ever heard of a man falling in love with a female statue?). I couldn’t find anyone who reads their stories and not finding them worthy of note. That’s why I really adore Greek love stories.

Why am I talking about these things? Well, if you can notice, they display a distinct characteristic of love. Swimming against the forces of nature, navigating unknown regions, and adoring a piece of art in the name of love all conclude that love knows no boundaries. The forces of nature can’t stop love. Different worlds can’t impede love. Elemental dissimilarities can’t hinder love. Love is inexorable. Therefore, love recognizes no boundaries.

Love simply doesn’t recognize limitations when they see one. As much as this thought freaks ordinary mortals like us, this statement is very true and very evident in Greek stories. One of the stories that display this feature is the story of Hero and Leander, which I had vaguely mentioned in the previous paragraphs. This story is one of the many narratives that depict the liberty of love. The love that is displayed in this story was limitless and free. To prove this, let’s delve into their story:

Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite in Sestus. When she met Leander, a youth of a town in the opposite shores of Sestus, things were never the same again for both of them. Every night, Leander would swim across to her, guided by the light of a torch Hero always set blazing on the top of a tower (when I said every night, I really mean every single night). Nothing would really stop Leander from coming to Hero, even storms. So, anyone at this point could conclude that love really knows no boundaries.

Love really recognizes no limitations. No forces of nature can ever separate two soul mates. If a body of water sets them apart, they’ll really cross it. If a storm gets in their way, they’ll really traverse through it just to be with one another. In the name of love, they would really be willing to swim a hundred miles and face a thousand Ondoys, Pepengs, and Quedans if these are what it takes to be together again. Hence, love certainly knows no boundaries.

Love simply doesn’t recognize limitations when they see one. This statement may sound ridiculous to us; but, for two lovebirds, it’s a fact. A story that tells us this much is the story about Orpheus and Eurydice. These two lovebirds can enlighten us about this whole fact thing. Let’s take a peek at their story:

Orpheus was a forlorn musician before Eurydice ever met him. When they did come across each other, everything then began to fall in place. When they were married, they were a match from heaven. But directly after their wedding, Eurydice was bitten by a poisonous snake and immediately died (of course, if you were bitten by a snake like that, you can’t expect to live to tell the tale). Anyway, Orpheus went back to being alone and forsaken. Only now, he was determined to get his Eurydice back from the dead. And so, he went to the underworld and tried to convince Hades and Persephone to resurrect Eurydice…Well, if you can believe that, then there you have it, the evidence of a love that clearly knows no boundaries.

Love really recognizes no limitations. Even the worlds that separate these two lovebirds can’t keep them apart. You can’t really expect them to resist being distant from one another. “It is difficult to keep love imprisoned”, as the story of Cupid and Psyche quote. However far his sweetheart dwells, he would certainly follow her there. So, it would really go to the extent of going to the underworld if one of them happens to “cross over”. Therefore, love truly knows no boundaries.

Love simply doesn’t recognize limitations when they see one. This one last and final love story really explains this idea clearly. This story is the story of Pygmalion and Galatea. Their love story perhaps is the most interesting and the most bizarre story among the other stories that I have included here. Why I have said so, let’s find out:

Pygmalion was a gifted young sculptor and a woman-hater. In fact, he was determined never to get married. But, he chose to pour all his talents in sculpting… (guess what)…a woman (now this is weird). Either he was insane or the sculpture he made turned out to be exquisitely gorgeous, he fell in love with her after he sculpted her (can you believe that?). He even showered her with gifts young women loved to have (he’s really insane). But however absurd that was, he loved her like a man would love a real woman. Nevertheless, we can really conclude here that love knows no boundaries.

Love really recognizes no limitations…At this point, you could already understand this assertion. But for the sake of documentation (and for coherence, of course—it’s hard to end this way), I would prefer to wrap up my ideas formally… (now, where will I start?) By knowing the story of Pygmalion and Galatea, we could perceive that love truly knows no boundaries. It won’t matter if you are in love with an effigy or with something worse than that. For love, it won’t make a difference at all. That’s why I have asserted that love doesn’t really recognize boundaries.

If you are patient enough to read a lot of Greek love stories, you would notice that almost all of them speak of how boundless love is. Love can really occur between Titans and Olympians, gods and goddesses, higher deities and nymphs, and mortals and immortals. Who would ever forget Zeus taking a lot of mistresses behind Hera’s watchful eyes? Or of Apollo chasing a lot of young mortal women? Who would really forget the cyclops Polyphemus falling madly in love with the stunning sea nymph Galatea? (not the Galatea of Pygmalion) Or of the sea-god Glaucus forever adoring the nymph-monster Scylla? All of them proved that it won’t count whether you are a god or not, a mortal or an immortal, or a nymph or a monster. What counts is that you truly love each other. So, love really knows no boundaries.

Love really recognizes no limitations (how many times did I mention this by the way?). It is very clear from what I have presented to you that love really goes beyond its limits (there I go again). Love is not limited by the bodies of water that separates two lovers. It is not restricted to the two of them living in two separate worlds; nor is it held back to two different beings. It is also apparent from the examples that I have laid before that it won’t matter whether you are living in opposite shores, or dwelling in separate worlds, or falling in love with a different creature. Thus, love is unlimited and boundless.

Now we go to the very last paragraph of my composition. I just would like to tell you that if you ever demand further evidences about my assertion, just read a lot of Greek love stories and you would find your answers there. Meanwhile, I would end this composition with a bow and an overused statement, “Love knows no boundaries”…