How many loved your moments of glad grace And loved your beauty with love false or true But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

Age has no reality except in the physical world. The essence of a human being is resistant to the passage of time. Our inner lives are eternal which is to say that our spirits remain as youthful and vigorous as when we were in full bloom. Think of love as a state of grace not the means to anything but the alpha and omega. An end in itself.

Real isnt how you are made said the Skin Horse. Its a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long long time not just to play with but REALLY loves you then you become Real.Does it hurt asked the Rabbit. Sometimes said the Skin Horse for he was always truthful. When you are Real you dont mind being hurt. Does it happen all at once like being wound up he asked or bit by bit It doesnt happen all at once said the Skin Horse. You become. It takes a long time. Thats why it doesnt happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges or who have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you are Real most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things dont matter at all because once you are Real you cant be ugly except to people who dont understand.

One loses as one grows older something of the lightness of ones dreams one begins to take life up in both hands and to care more for the fruit than the flower and that is no great loss perhaps.