can the love we feel for someone fade completely,
eventually to be gone and forgotten?

or, does some trace, memory, feeling, spark . . .
always stay with us?

is love permanent, and in that way special?

or is it like most things, impermanent?

and what if we discover that what we believe
to be "love"

is no more than an illusion based on assump-
tion and projection;

can this illusion fade completely?

or is the mere semblance of love something that
is special and permanent?

some 300 years ago, the Sixth Dalai Lama wrote,

Love written in the heart
Can never be erased

is this fact, or just poetry?