Oratories-One

The Love Speech of William J. Stuart

To be or not to be? That is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler to take thy hand or to kiss thee in earnest, I am to learn. Thou say that thou loves me and maybe within thy mind thou believes it to be true, maybe, deep within thy mind it is true, but within thy heart, thy soul, thine unconscious acts and thoughts, I begin to doubt thy sincerity.

I saw thee with him, I saw thee laugh, I saw thee smile, and I saw thee catch his eye in mischievous delight. Long has it been since thou have looked at me so. Long has it been since thou have allowed thyself to laugh or to smile in my presence. Since when has that light-hearted laughter of our love turned to heavy philosophising and downcast contemplation? Do thou no longer see me as thy lover, but as thy advisor?

Oh! How I miss the sweet romance that we once shared, those gay, ecstatic airs of joy.

Oh! How I yearn for those long, drowsy evenings spent in loving embrace and shy flirtation.

But they, my dear, are gone. Lost beneath the loathsome trappings of anguish and mis-matched sorrow! Now I wonder, do thou love me as before?

Do thou love me as you once did when we walked along the forest trails, hand in hand, loudly singing odes to joy and love and passion?

Do thou love me as thou once did when our lips met for that first precious kiss beneath the willow?

Do thou love me as you once did when we were taken by the inebriating liquor of summer and ran barefoot in the emerald glade?

Do thou love me as you once did and as I myself still love you?

I love you and the very thought that thy heart belongs to someone else rends my own. I would be thine forever in but an instant if you would be but mine.

Oh! Such a wantwit love makes of me, that I should thus contemplate without neither proof nor substance with which to insure my thoughtless ramblings against. Alas! How the very thought has become ambrosia and perpetuated my torment. I fear love yet I also fear the loss of love. To do so is folly, yet I care not!

Oh! How I long for us to be as we were, living for the sheer sake of life, of love. Living just to see the dawn together, living just to breathe in the chill mountain airs and the sweet smelling flowers in the dale. Living just to see your smile awaken stars in your eyes. Living just for you.

Oh! How I mourn the loss of that love! How I mourn your sweet smiles and whispered promises!

Oh! How I loathe the coldness, the distance between us! How I loathe my own folly and foolish desire!

Oh! How I long to cry:

“Come away with me! Come away with me tonight and we’ll travel the midnight meadows together. Come away with me and we’ll lie beneath the glowing moon in fields of silver. Come away with me and by the swift flowing waters of the moonlit river we shall embrace. Come away with me tonight! Come away with me!”

Oh! How I long to utter these words! How I long to take thy hand and flee this world! How I long to hold you in my arms once more!

Oh! How I love thee! Yet I love nothing but a memory for nothing is as it once was. All that is is now all that was.

Oh! How I love thee! How my heart is torn in two!

My love, come away with me! Come away with me to my dreams for there, thou are still thyself, I am still myself and we are still ourselves, for my love, in my dreams anything is possible.

Oh! How I love thee!