To Love Or Not To Love | Teen Ink

To Love Or Not To Love

January 23, 2009
By Christina BRONZE, Clifton, Virginia
Christina BRONZE, Clifton, Virginia
4 articles 0 photos 26 comments

To love, or not to love: that is the question:
What love is mine that I do not cherish
With every beat of my eager heart?
The boy knows not the heart of me. To live, to feel;
No more; and in feeling a person loses their inhibitions
But gains the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation
No man can escape. To live, to feel;
To feel: perchance to love: there’s the problem;
For, in living and feeling what love may come
When we for one instant let our hearts run free,
Must make us think: there’s the respect
That makes value of so long life;
For who would bear the yoke and horns of love,
The lover’s drama, the spouse’s worries,
The pangs of insecurity, the world’s challenges,
The separation that comes when lovers make
Their two lives one and yet continue to live as two,
When he himself might his vow make
With all his heart? who would emotions bear,
To keep with him, inside him, ever after,
But that the allurement of the sense of love,
The numinous place from which
No voyager has yet return untouched, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear that love we have
Than stifle the strongest sentiment man has known?
Thus this does make heroes of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is covered with a happy, rosy flush,
And enterprises of great vigor and moment
With this regard their hearts are fully pledged,
And live happily ever after. -- Soft you now!
The fair boy! Dear heart, in thy prayers
Be all my love remember’d.


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 13 comments.


on Feb. 24 2023 at 12:39 pm
foreverandeverandmorever SILVER, Mount Pleasant, Michigan
7 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A girl should be a butterfly. Pretty to see, but hard to catch," <br /> Don't know who wrote this.

You are so good expressing feelings! I love all your work

on Oct. 6 2014 at 4:07 pm
EmilytheBelleofA. DIAMOND, Athens, Georgia
81 articles 5 photos 1486 comments

Favorite Quote:
To love is to be vulnerable; Triumph is born out of struggle; We notice shadows most when they stand alone in the midst of overwhelming light.

A quote from C.S. Lewis came into my mind, when I read this, "To love at all, is to be vulnerable." I love this. :) You are and amazing and beautiful and wonderful and talented writer and person. You are beautiful. Know that, and never forget that. You really have a talent and greatness in you. Thank you so much, for sharing this. :)

on Jun. 11 2013 at 8:16 am
LoveLostNeverFound GOLD, Freeland, Pennsylvania
17 articles 0 photos 23 comments

Favorite Quote:
My scars don&#039;t lead me in the path that I&#039;m headed, they simply remind me of where I&#039;ve been.

you're an amzing writter!!! keep it up!! i hope to read more XD

on Oct. 9 2012 at 6:21 pm
KiraVogt2896 SILVER, La Canada Flintridge, California
9 articles 0 photos 21 comments

Favorite Quote:
&#039;Our love is like the wind... I can&rsquo;t see it, but I sure can feel it.&#039; By Landon, A Walk To Remember. Movie and book.

I love your poems! I read this one and "Jerk" I loved both of them! Great job on this one too! :) 

on Dec. 18 2011 at 9:56 am
fictitious-quandary GOLD, Orlando, Florida
18 articles 5 photos 83 comments

Favorite Quote:
Knowing is not enough; we must apply.<br /> Willing is not enough; we must do.<br /> Johann Wolfgang von Goethe<br /> <br /> &quot;Whether you think you can or you think you can&#039;t, you&#039;re right&quot;<br /> - Henry Ford

 Really good.

Untamable said...
on Oct. 11 2011 at 2:55 pm
i like this. and it reminds me of a realy weird relationship i was in when i was younger.

MKimmi said...
on Feb. 13 2011 at 1:27 pm
MKimmi, NY, New York
0 articles 0 photos 103 comments
You are really good in writing poetry!!!

on Sep. 12 2010 at 2:33 pm
Someone_Who_Is_Loved GOLD, Mount Forest, Other
10 articles 0 photos 82 comments

Favorite Quote:
This quote is one I made up.....<br /> &quot;You can&#039;t climb a mountian without a harness.&quot; It means that you can&#039;t go where you want to get in life without the help of your friends or family.

OMG, I love it...It's kinda William Shakespeare like, but Im in total love with him...He's my role model. Keep writing

on Apr. 11 2010 at 1:41 pm
Whisperer PLATINUM, O&#39Fallon, Illinois
24 articles 0 photos 56 comments

Favorite Quote:
I&#039;d rather be hated for who i am, than loved for who I&#039;m not~Anonymous<br /> <br /> No individual has any right to come into and out of this world without leaving distinct and legit reasons for having passed through.~Anonymous

amen  to this :) this is really amazing. very dfferent approach, but amazing none the less. good work

on May. 14 2009 at 1:39 am
MariaMarie DIAMOND, Washington Court House, Ohio
70 articles 0 photos 181 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;Life&#039;s a mountain on a beach&quot;-Unknown<br /> &quot;Will: This is either madness or brilliance. Sparrow: It&#039;s remarkable how often those two traits coincide.&quot;-Pirates of the Caribbean:Curse of the Black Pearl.

This is... different- a rare style i don't see very often. I like it a lot. You're an excellent writer.

on Apr. 13 2009 at 3:00 pm
Inkspired PLATINUM, Whitby, Other
26 articles 0 photos 493 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;If one will scoff at the study of language, how, save in terms of language, will one scoff?&quot; - Mario Pei<br /> &quot;I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn&#039;t, I would die.&quot; Isaac Asimov

This is amazing! I love your use of language, it's so sophisticated!

ZoeR. GOLD said...
on Apr. 5 2009 at 10:55 pm
ZoeR. GOLD, Redlands, California
16 articles 0 photos 19 comments
i am SUCH a fan of your work! <3 you are really good! KEEP WRITING, CHRISTINA!!

on Mar. 24 2009 at 3:05 pm
mamacassx33 BRONZE, Rotterdam, New York
4 articles 6 photos 22 comments
holy crap...finaly somone that can take a shakespearian take to thinggs....im in love!