A rose by any other name

The point of marriage is not to create a quick commonality by tearing down all boundaries; 

on the contrary, 

a good marriage is one in which each partner appoints the other to be the guardian of his solitude, 

and thus they show each other the greatest possible trust. 

A merging of two people is an impossibility, 

and where it seems to exist, 

it is a hemming-in, 

a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties of their fullest freedom and development. 

But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, 

a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them,

 if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, 

which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole

and before an immense sky.

— Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters to a Young Poet)

For Kess, whom I love dearly.

She is getting married soon!

Photo * Shamelessly* yoinked, from here.