hells anticipated but foregone

January 21: douceur

"Love the One You're With" by Crosby, Stills & Nash is the ultimate douceur.

February 21: malleable

I used to joke that I preferred to date younger guys because they're more malleable; the truth is that, in general, they're just less cynical.

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All bodies have their yearnings for true evil,
A pall of darkness blotting out the heart,
Nor can remorse cancel luckless events
That rotted our engagements with Heaven’s truth;
These are now history. Therefore once more
We swear perpetual love at love’s own altar
And reassign our bodies, in good faith,
To faith in their reanimated souls.

But on our death beds shall our flaming passions
Revert in memory to their infantile
Delight of mocking the stark laws of love?
Rather let death concede a warning record
Of hells anticipated but foregone.

[Robert Graves, ‘True Evil’, from Timeless Meeting]