Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Love is a temporary madness;
It erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
It is not excitement,
It is not the promise of eternal passion.
That is just being "in love", which any fool can do.

Love itself is what remains when being in love has burned away,
And this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground,
And when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches,
They find that they are one tree and not two.


I read this poem at a friend's wedding. It comes from Louis de Berniere's book of the same name.
In the film, if I can remember right, John Hurt says these words to his daughter played by Penelope Cruz.
A few years ago I went on holiday to Argostoli, Kefalonia and could not help notiicing the amount of Italian tourists there. Now I know that, for them it is like going on a pilgrimage. A visit to the site where many Italian soldiers died alongside Greek patriots at the hands of the German army.