post for 8/25/10 - stupid love

The poet Paul Valery once said that "Love is being stupid together," which a lot of people seem to like & gets a lot of hits on a google search. Well, not really, because I can't find the original quote in French, and I'm pretty sure that it's been taken way out of context. These Romance languages have strict parallel structure, and I really think if he meant that love was being stupid together, he would have written, tomber amoureux est d'etre stupides ensemble, which maybe he did, I don't know, I browsed (quickly though) through his complete works in the library, and couldn't find anything that resembles that phrase.
But I think many people are attracted to the idea that falling head over heels for someone makes you forget stuff, lose track of time, trip over your own feet (I hope we're stopping short of the Idiocracy with falling in love). Love, then, is being a fool, a fool for love. Yeah, and I think we're talking about the infatuation stage of love, but wouldn't it be sweet for people who have been together for who knows how long, to have those moments of idiocy, when they lose track of themselves and get all sweet on their beloved. I've seen it every now & then in friends' relationships, and I pray it happens to everyone in the world, in a safe way, to lose track of the world, to lose your bearings sweetly with someone, to dangle by your ankle over a cliff, maybe, because that's the best way to see your beloved eye-to-eye.

Plus, okay, Valery also wrote this: "Mes chaudes mains, baigne-les/Dans les tiennes... Rien ne calm/ Comme d'amour ondules/Les passages d'une palme." in his poem, "La Caresse." Really, could someone who thinks love is stupid have written something like that about the sense of touch between lovers???