Hello again, dear readers,
It’s that time of year again! The national holiday of flowers, chocolate hearts, and love. The one day of the year when couples are nauseatingly in love and singles are reminded that just focusing on yourself is overrated (don’t come after me, I’m just kidding… maybe). It’s Valentine’s Day!! In honor of this year’s day of love, I took a deep dive into the most romantic love letters to ever be written. Hopefully, you can use them to gain inspiration for a note to send to a special someone in your life. Or if you’re one of our bitter singles, you can just use them to dream of the day you find that perfect someone.
Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.
Song of Solomon 1:15
Song of Solomon, one of the books of the Bible, begins with a collection of love poems that go back and forth between the woman and the man’s perspective. While I have no idea of the original format in which this work was written, it reads as notes being passed back and forth. In these notes, it is clear that these two lovers are the only ones for each other. Throughout the book, the lovers are constantly searching for one another and rejoicing in a reunion. It is unarguable that they appreciate each other for their appearance, strengths, and love. One of perhaps the most impactful messages of this series is the focus on the consuming nature of love and the power it contains. It shows that love is one of the most transcendental forces and the desire to know a person and be known by a person is innately human. In Solomon’s attempt to purchase the woman’s love, it is displayed that true love is a choice granted by free will. In the end, the book is not concluded in one way or another, showing another layer of the confusion and endless story that exists when pursuing love.
Since I left you, I have been constantly depressed. My happiness is to be near you… I thought that I loved you months ago, but since my separation from you I feel that I love you a thousand fold more. Each day since I knew you, have I adored you yet more and more. This proved the maxim of Bruyere, that ‘love comes all of a sudden,’ to be false. Everything in nature has its own course, and different degrees of growth.
General Napoleon Bonaparte
You might be shocked to find Napoleon on this because history does not remember him for his romanticism but for his authoritarian rule, mass war, propaganda, and censorship. Although, the cynic reading this may be glad to learn that Napoleon wrote this letter to his wife Josephine in 1796 and then later annulled their marriage in 1809. It just shows pretty words alone are not enough to sustain a relationship. Even taking into account their eminent demise, I think there is something to be said for the power these words have. It speaks to the understanding that love grows over time. It is a force of its own growing, in its own time, and taking its own shape in your life. So just wait and see what can happen when you are least expecting it.
 …be calm — love me — Today — yesterday — what tearful longing for you — for you — you — my life — my all — all good wishes to you — Oh, do continue to love me — never misjudge your lover’s most faithful heart.
every yours
every mine
ever ours
Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven has long been considered one of the greatest musicians and composers of all time. It is not shocking that his artistic hand did more than write symphonies. The piece above is a section out of a letter in a series that speaks of longing for his mystery love. While many have speculated over the mystery girl, Beethoven himself was never married, meaning this love affair was doomed to an end. Part of what makes his letters so chillingly romantic is the ethereal way he portrayed his love. His longing to be with his love and know her in her entirety might just be the pinnacle of romance in a courtship.
Happy Birthday Princess,
We get old and get used to each other. We think alike. We read each others minds. We know what the other wants without asking. Sometimes we irritate each other a little bit. Maybe sometimes take each other for granted.
But once in awhile, like today, I meditate on it and realize how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met. You still fascinate and inspire me. You influence me for the better. You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason for my existence. I love you very much.
Happy Birthday Princess.
John
Johnny Cash
While this letter was simple, there is something to be said for that. For the mundane familiarness of Johnny’s love for his wife June after 24 years of marriage. This letter was voted one of the greatest love letters of all time in 2015. Johnny and June’s love story itself has been the subject of public attention since it originated. The movie Walk the Line was created in honor of them and their legendary love. In the midst of the letters with tragic or unfortunate endings, it is heartwarming to find a success story to last the ages.
I love you, precious, with all my heart and to know that you love me means my life. How often I have thought about the immeasurable joy that will be ours some day. How lucky our children will be to have a mother like you.
George H.W. Bush
At just 19, the then future president of the United States wrote his future wife Barbra a love letter in joy of seeing their engagement announcement. There is something that is simply adorable about him calling her precious in this way. Knowing all that would follow this letter and the continued strength of their marriage is bound to bring some joy to the hopeless romantics out there. They survived the separation of George fighting in WWII, criticism over their marriage, the death of their 8 year old daughter, the pressures of the presidency, depression, and any of the other number of things the family chose to keep private. There is something so intimately loving in his excitement for their shared future and the continued steadfast love to the day Barbra died. At the time, they were the longest married couple ever. Their story proves the importance of showing up every day and being ready to love to the fullest.
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There are few things as constant through time as love. It has shown again and again as a force to be reckoned with. For good or for not so good, it has the strength to alter entire lives. Some in as dramatic a way as Romeo and Juliet or Paris and Helena, and others in more subtle ways, like Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Whether you are with the love of your life, in a whirlwind romance, or still searching for your special someone, try taking some time this Valentine’s Day to appreciate how special a gift love is. Make sure to express it to its fullness in your words and actions.
XOXO – Elise