Petruchio and Kate, who view each other as equals in wit;

Gilbert and Anne, bright kindred spirits and beauties;

Darcy and Elizabeth, correcting any and all misgivings;

Marius and Cosette, brought together in purity;

Aragorn and Arwin, providing each other with strength;

Bane and Margaret, steadfast friends and confidants;

Bear and Blanche, gentle souls with affinities for joy;

Many still wish to write of love, expressed through the fictional.

But try as they might, they have lost what will truly last,

what will make a reader truly experience a romance.

Love is not merely contingent on passion alone,

or initial attraction, or physical contact, or, well, “romance.”

It is an effort, an action, “an ever-fixéd mark,”

something to be cherished, respected; a joining of two souls under God.