How can so much beauty hide such a bruised and steely heart, and why must I love him, why must I lean in my weariness upon his irresistible yet indomitable strength? Is he not the wizend funeral spirit of a dead man in a child's clothes?
Interpretation
This quote explores the paradox of loving someone who appears beautiful and strong but carries deep emotional wounds.
In this quote, Anne Rice reflects on the complexity of love, particularly for someone whose outward beauty and strength conceal inner pain and trauma. The imagery of a 'bruised and steely heart' suggests a deep emotional struggle, while the reference to a 'wizened funeral spirit' highlights the concept of past experiences haunting the present. The longing to lean on this person's strength despite their vulnerabilities emphasizes how love often involves embracing both beauty and pain.
In practice
In a romantic setting, to express the depth of feeling for a partner who has overcome adversity.
From my stone pillow I have dreamed dreams of the mortal world above. I have heard its voices, its new music, as lullabies as I lie in my grave. I have envisioned its fantastical discoveries. I have known its courage in the timeless sanctum of my thoughts. And though it shuts me out with its dazzling forms, I long for one with the strength to roam it fearlessly, to ride the Devil's Road through its heart.
We all suffer under a curse, the curse that we know more than we can endure, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing we can do about the force and the lure of this knowledge.
And so this young one, this young one whom I had so loved, I had to forsake, no matter how broken my heart, no matter how lonely my soul, no matter how bruised my intellect and spirit.
Dear God, help me. Do not forget me on this tiny cinder lost in a galaxy that is lost–a heart no bigger than a speck of dust beating, beating against death, against meaninglessness, against guilt, against sorrow.
The vampires have always been metaphors for me. They've always been vehicles through which I can express things I have felt very, very deeply.
In the very depths of Hell, do not demons love one another?
What power is it which mounts my love so high, that makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye
Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.
I read Naoko's letter again and again, and each time I read it I would be filled with the same unbearable sadness I used to feel whenever Naoko stared into my eyes. I had no way to deal with it, no place I could take it to or hide it away. Like the wind passing over my body, it had neither shape nor weight, nor could I wrap myself in it.
Love! What is love? It's nothing. It's just a word. It doesn't exist. Only pleasure is important.
In the hope to meet_x000D_ _x000D_ Shortly again, and make our absence sweet.
The other one he loved like a slave, like a madman and like a beggar. Why? Ask the dust on the road and the falling leaves, ask the mysterious God of life; for no one knows such things. She gave him nothing, no nothing did she give him and yet he thanked her. She said: Give me your peace and your reason! And he was only sorry she did not ask for his life.
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