The most beautiful look of love I have ever seen is what it looks like when you grow old.

When you are old, gray-haired and sleepy,

you sit tiredly by the fire, take down this book,

read it slowly, The look in my eyes when I was chasing my dream,

That soft look and deep halo.

——"When You Get Old" (Excerpt) Translated by Bing Xin

We always imagine that the best love may be a simple meal, or wandering together. But no matter what kind of imagination it is, it is inseparable from one condition, that is, "to be together for a lifetime." Just like what is written in the poem, perhaps the most beautiful thing is that when you are old, with wrinkles on your face and gray hair, I still love you.

01/When you are old, I will still love you

There are too many versions of this poem’s translation. Among these many versions, I only love Bing Xin’s. This version, in Bing Xin's writing, is more like a poem, allowing people to quietly experience a woman's elegance behind the years, and a man's love for her through the years.

This poem has touched countless people. Like many great poems, its inspiration comes from a woman.

Her name was Maud Gonne, the daughter of a colonel stationed in the British Army in Ireland. Yeats fell in love with her at first sight. He described her in poetic language as, "a petal filled with sunshine." ". But because he was just a poor boy who had accomplished nothing, he always suppressed this feeling in his heart and did not dare to express it.

However, like many poets, romantic feelings always add a bit of "sentimental" color to them intentionally or unintentionally, so they often cannot distinguish each other's true meaning.

In 1891, Gon wrote a letter to Yeats, in which he showed some affection. Yeats mistook this as a hint of courtship, so he boldly opened his Her courtship journey turned out to be unsatisfactory. She tried many times but was rejected without exception.

This rejection lasted throughout his life, causing Yeats great pain. After Gang's husband died, the lover in Yeats's eyes finally became the gray-haired old man in his works. He fulfilled his promise and still loved her, but she still did not love him.

It sounds like a sad story, but this sadness has become eternal in Yeats's writings. She became the source of his poetic inspiration, allowing him to write such touching poems as "When You Are Old."

Although Yeats did not have the opportunity to accompany Gang to old age, he allowed us to witness that behind the passage of time, there will still be endless love.

02/No matter what you become, I don’t want to leave you

Love in old age has always been what people yearn for, which means that we After experiencing vicissitudes of life and prosperity, we reach the end of our lives together. As the saying goes, "Companyship is the longest confession of love." When the glitz is gone and I am about to cross the end of my life, you will be the only one left in my life. And at this time, no matter what you look like, I don't want to leave you.

In the book "Grandpa Must Get a Divorce", such a story is written.

Grandpa Napoleon was a stubborn old man. He was a powerful boxer and was used to being majestic on stage. He felt that nothing could defeat him until he encountered "aging". Aging is a terrible enemy, he said. I thought that as long as I didn't admit it, I wouldn't be defeated, but the enemy was too powerful and I couldn't defeat it after all.

When facing aging, his biggest worry is Josephina. He loves her very much and does not want her to see him defeated. He wants to maintain his status as "Emperor" in front of her. Dignity, so he decided to divorce her.

In less than a year after his divorce, Napoleon tried every means to fight against aging. He tried to repair light bulbs by himself, paint the walls by himself, make all the caregivers angry, and refuse anything related to old age. However, after breaking his spine, he had to admit that aging had turned him into a cripple, and he was no longer the invincible emperor.

In the last few days of his life, he finally compromised. He just wanted to see Josefina and let her spend the last part of his life with him. And Josefina said, this is what I want to do, I want to stay with him until the end.

In love, we always want to look the best, but we forget that people who love you often love you in all your ways.

03/I can forget the whole world, but I will never forget you

——What if one day, I completely forget you?

——Then I will help you, remember you and me.

Some time ago, a set of photos went viral on the Internet. The protagonists were an old couple, Harold and Ruby, who had been married for 65 years. Under the photographer's lens, two gray-haired old men cuddled up against each other, with each other's faces in their smiles and eyes.

When this set of photos was taken, Ruby was already suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Like many elderly people suffering from this disease, she forgot a lot of things and even caused a lot of trouble for her family. trouble. But she still remembered Harold, and Harold never left her.

Ruby's memory is gradually being eaten away by the disease, leaving only forty, thirty, twenty years... Maybe one day sooner or later, she will forget Harold too, but Harold will remember, As he said, "I promised to love her forever when I got married, and I just fulfilled my promise."

There is a popular short film "3001 First Dates" on the Internet, which tells the same story. story. Ten years ago, the old man's wife suffered from Alzheimer's disease and had forgotten about him since then. Every morning when she woke up, she felt that the person beside her was a stranger. She had to ask "Who are you" every day? Ah," the old man always said over and over again, "I am Ah Feng," and then tried to use various methods to make her happy, and at the same time, he was prepared that she would forget him again.

In this process, the wife returned to 20 years old, and the old man also returned to 20 years old; the wife returned to 40 years old, and the old man also returned to 40 years old. He has been using his own methods to communicate with her. She synchronized and went to the world she could understand, just to chase her again.

We often underestimate the power of love, thinking that forgetfulness will be the most powerful enemy, but it is love that helps us remember him and ourselves.

04/You are the whole meaning of my life

I saw a movie a long time ago called "A Man Called Ove Decides to Die". Before the movie was played, For dozens of minutes, I always felt that this was an annoying old man. He was extremely indifferent to everyone and everything outside, had a bad temper, and only wanted to die.

I didn’t understand at first how such a disgusting guy could exist. What happened in his life that deprived him of his will to live? It wasn’t until the second half of the film that I discovered that he was a woman.

Ove fell in love with his wife. His wife was optimistic and helpful by nature, bringing a lot of joy and courage to the shy and taciturn Ove. But in an unfortunate traffic accident, his wife was crushed under the car, losing her child and her legs.

As a result, she was frequently rejected when applying for jobs. From then on, Ove resented those vehicles that did not drive according to regulations, and even those who refused to help his wife.

During the days when he became disabled, his wife always tried to maintain her optimistic nature and in turn comforted Ove's emotions. This made Ove once think that his wife was his only connection with the world. It is the only beautiful thing in the world and the only reason worth living for him. Therefore, after his wife passed away, Ove felt that living had no value anymore.

Losing a mother in middle age and losing a spouse in old age may be the two most difficult experiences for many people in their lives. The wheel of time keeps peeling the people we love away from us, but we often can only watch. Watching, helpless. The only thing that can be done may be to live well, just like Yang Jiang did, "I live for the three of us alone."

It is terrible to be left alone on the battlefield of the world. But living is the continuation of memory. As said in "Grandpa Must Divorce", forgetting is the only enemy.

05/The best love is that you let me and I let you

There is a video of a couple who have been married for 59 years. When the two elderly people in their eighties were interviewed by reporters, their faces still showed happy expressions.

When talking about interesting things about youth, the old lady seems to be more talkative, from first acquaintance, chatting to pursuit, to lifelong companionship. That way, it was like reliving those happy days all over again.

The two old people never cook at home. During the 59 years after their marriage, they have been eating out in restaurants and all over the streets. They spend an average of 100 yuan on food every day. Many people lament that this is something only people with good family backgrounds can do. But what I have to say is that what is more important is the respect and compromise between two people in marriage.

Because of mutual respect and compromise, the old lady would go out to eat if she didn’t know how to cook, instead of forcing the other party to do it; and because of mutual respect and concession, the old lady would always help the old grandfather when he was busy. His greatest support and tolerance was that when the grandfather was on a business trip, he would stay silently at home, waiting for him to come back.

In love life, we often focus on enjoyment and forget to maintain it with our heart. And all love that can grow from youth to adulthood is nothing more than love gained through consideration, respect and compromise.

Love is not about wanting to change the other person or changing for the other person, but about letting nature take its course and becoming the best version of yourself. As the sentence says, the reason why I love you is because in your world, I can be the best version of myself.

The two gray-haired old men in the camera, holding hands and leaving behind, may be the most beautiful love we can imagine.

Nowadays we seem to be living in a different era. Cars and horses are very fast, people's hearts are fickle, many young people are no longer willing to believe in love, and when it comes to discussions about sexual relations, they are more about timely enjoyment. , be kind to yourself. But I want to say that I can still see and would like to see those gray-haired old people walking hand in hand. This is what I yearn for and want to believe, the most beautiful form of love.