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Earthly love (n.) merely ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠blossoms — whether for an hour or seventy years — and in that lies its fragility and its sadness.

Earthly love (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the beautiful fantasy of the infinite; its highest expression is a mysterious foolishness — “loving a man more than God” — which delights the poet and which Christianity calls blasphemy.

Earthly love (n.) as ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the poet sees it knows only one object in the whole world and only a first love: once is everything, a second time the destruction of everything.

Earthly love (n.) involves ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠no moral task: finding the one beloved is luck, and the only duty is to be duly thankful for one's good fortune.

Earthly love (n.) and ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠friendship are the I intoxicated in the other I: the more closely two I's fuse into one, the more that united self excludes all others.

Earthly love (n.) and ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠friendship, as the poet understands them, are idolatry — as selfishness in the strict sense is self-worship.

Earthly love (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠where people think they need no help from God — they need God to love the less lovable neighbor, but believe that in love and friendship His intervention would be disturbing.

Earthly love (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠surrender everything to the beloved's personality except love itself: if it saw that its being loved would ruin the beloved, it could not make that sacrifice.

Earthly love (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the most beautiful of temporal things but the frail invention of time: one cannot with eternal faithfulness hold to what is not itself eternal, so even its highest faithfulness almost looks like disloyalty.

Earthly love (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠its defect and its virtue in the same thing — partiality: it begins by loving several and ends by loving one, while spiritual love widens until it loves all.