Editor’s Note: I tried this one on my sweetie — we both rolled on the floor laughing! Login and add your comment on this most important insight into romance.
As children we played staring games where whoever blinked first, lost. We’d mimic mock romantic verse like “your eyes are like two pools”. Then swooning, we’d add “cesspools” thinking it was the funniest thing we’d ever heard.
Years later when we saw like change to love in our sweetheart’s eyes before it even came out of their mouth we thought differently about eyes and pools. The eyes indeed are like pools—reflecting ourselves to one another. Dive in.
Looking into each other’s eyes is one of my favorite ways to communicate. It might sound silly once you are married and not in the business of falling in love, but our eyes contain the “us” that was and is and is to be. They say deep things so precious that we may never be able to verbalize them in any combination of twenty-six letters.
The water in our pool is clear and not cloudy or murky. Our gaze is level and direct. It holds a hidden smile just for us. Our love is there—strong, true and unwavering. Our history is there and it is good. There is no hurt to cast our eyes downward as transgressions brought against each other have long been forgiven and forgotten. Trust and faithfulness are there. Lies, betrayal and deceit have not visited us causing our eyes to shift or dart away. They are soft with compassion, tolerance, understanding, acceptance and knowing. Sometimes they sparkle with hope and anticipation. Occasionally they fatigue and need to close but love is still in them. I cherish the times we look and really see. It is then that our gratitude is so great and our hearts so full that only tears can fully express us.
Dive into the eyes of your loved one and exchange deep gifts there.
Barbara Sharp Milbourn is a writer with an uncanny gift to express the true nature of romance.
