Who Ever Loved, That Loved Not at First Sight?
an interpretation
It lies not in our power to love or hate,
Our feelings are subject to forces beyond our control
For will in us is overruled by fate,
Will power is overruled by the inevitability of fate
When two are stripped long ere the course begins,
Mutual desire signals the birth of a joining that binds
We wish that one should lose, the other win;
We wish life to revolve around ourselves
And one especially do we affect
The more one loves us the more we affect them
Like two gold ingots, like in each respect;
Cast in the same mold we are entranced by our alikeness
The reason know mans knows let it suffice
It should be sufficient there is no reasonable explanation
What we behold is censured by our eyes,
We are drawn to some and not to others
Where both deliberate, the love is slight;
The love is slight if we are unsure of how we feel
Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?
Love at first sight bypasses the thoughts
and goes directly to the heart
From “Hero and Leander” by Christopher Marlowe
Interpreted by Paul Martin
