“Love is eternal. If it ends, it wasn't love.”

Source: City of Lost Souls

No. XIV
Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850)
Context: If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
"I love her for her smile —her look —her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day" -
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

Source: Black Water

"North and South of the River"
Lyrics, Staring at the Sun (1997 EP)

Last words, spoken to his wife (15 June 1849); as quoted in Famous Last Words: The Ultimate Collection of Finales and Farewells (2004) by Laura Ward.

Variant: Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
Source: 1790s, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), Proverbs of Hell, Line 10

"Home"
Degrees: Thought Capsules and Micro Tales (1989)