What is love?

Is it a feeling?

Is it a bond?

An unspoken connection?

It is a gift to love and be loved, though sometimes it is through pain and loss we feel the true depth of our love. All the strings pulling, twisting, knotting, fraying…as we’re forced to cut the thread and let go.

Does love end when life ends? Does it live only within our physical sphere or endure in the ether, the matter between matter, the space where one thing ends and another begins. Where does the love of a living being go when they go? Does it only stay in the heart of the one left behind, fed by memories of moments,  touchstones and longings?

I just held a vessel. It is what remains of a creature I so loved. My Griffin. I loved him. He knew it. He loved me. I felt it. He was safe with me until the end. Trust. Affection. Comfort. Reliance. Companionship. Tenderness. An unspoken bond. A shared life. Mornings in bed with tea. Afternoons in the garden sunshine.

There are footprints on the windowsill I don’t want to wash away. They are evidence of so much more. One day they will fade. Will the love? Or just the memories and the matter? Is love not eternal…for all things great and small?

As a kitten Griffin was so shy, yet he learned to trust me and to love me. He had a sister Zoe.  She left us long ago but my love for her has not diminished. She was so dear.