Plaisir d'amour — Alma Alexander

The adage 'It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all' was probably coined by somebody who hadn't had their heart broken ... yet. But most of us who do our growing up and living and loving in the real world end up putting our hearts on the line, and they get damaged and bruised in the process.

Sometimes having loved and lost is bitter and the grief is brutally hard to transcend. As the old song says, love's pleasures last for a moment... the grief of love lasts for a lifetime.

And still. We would not live without it, without the potential to love and to be in love and to be loved. Because love is what gives us strength, and gives us courage. Love is the thing that keeps us alive. And in the end it all comes down to love - whether you have it or don't have it, whether you feel yourself worthy of it, whether you think you will never know it.

But love is playful, and cunning, and surprising - it comes most often when it is not looked for (and is very good at hiding when it is actively sought...) In the end there is little you can do other than offer up your heart - and believe."