Page:Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct.djvu/184

 new scene, "imaginary" love, a very sprite of enchantment, helps us to believe persistently in good, when those who love not at all, neither in reality nor in idealization, are drowning in the black waters of suicidal despair.

So it is well for us—those who can—to imagine "imaginary" love! We shall never grasp the Dream in this world—nevertheless let us fly after it as though it were a Reality! Its path is one of sweetness more than pain,—its ways are devious, yet even in sadness still entrancing. Better than rank, better than wealth is this talisman, which with a touch brings us into close communication with the Higher worlds. Let us "imagine" our friends are true; let us "imagine" we are loved for our own sakes alone,—let us "imagine," as we welcome our acquaintances into our homes, that their smiles and greetings are sincere—let us imagine "imaginary" love as the poets do,—a passion tender, strong and changeless—and pursue it always, even if the objects, which for a moment its passing wings have brushed, crumble into dust beneath that touch of fire! So shall our lives retain the charm of constant Youth and Hope,—so shall the world seem always beautiful to us,—so shall the Unimaginable glory of the future Real-in-Love shine nearer every day in our faithful, fond pursuit of its flying Shadow!