Girl with a Pearl Earring (Johannes Vermeer)

the power of her glance
bridges oceans of time.
a quiet understanding
of sorrows unwept;
of desires silenced.
secrets of the soul
stilled in her parting lips

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"...Love can be understood
only 'from the inside,'
as a language can be understood
only by someone who speaks it,
as a world can be understood
only by someone
who lives in it."

-Robert C. Solomon
Love, Emotion, Myth and Metaphor