Friday, February 15, 2008

The More Loving One

Alexander McCall Smith, undoubtedly my favourite contemporary writer, is fond of quoting the poems of W.H. Auden in his books. And out of the many snippets, all I remember is this sentence:

"If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me"

I remember it so well because it seems incredibly impossible to want to be the "more loving one" rather than the one at the receiving end of others' love. How noble it is to suffer unrequited love and wish that others will be spared the anguish. How difficult it must be to accept that you'll always love the person more than he loves you. Don't we always proclaim that we should marry a person who loves us more than we love him? I wonder how different relationships will be if everybody tries to be the loving instead of loved one.

5 comments:

bing said...

Then perhaps more relationships will work out? :p

Wai Han said...

Probably! Imagine 2 people trying to outdo each other in being nice lol.

Anonymous said...

What an apt post post Single Awareness Day (S.A.D.), lol.

bing said...

oh! i received a travel organiser + journal for vday. the first portion of the book was titled' wanderlust', it's on little tips about travelling. the first thing it reminded me of was you and your blog! am stealing that line about wandering to put in my journal!

Wai Han said...

Bing, what a nice prezzie! you can use it for your grad trip :)

Turt, yeah it's part of my V day musing lol.