Dance Me to the End of Love

Grandma Stella reflects on the profound love she shared with her late husband, Peter, and how his memory continues to bring her comfort and a sense of his enduring presence.

The late songwriter and singer, Leonard Cohen, sang a song called “Dance Me to the End of Love.” Each time I hear that song, I feel a deep pain in my heart. My soul silently weeps. I tremble with regret that my love is gone. When I first met Peter, I felt I had finally arrived to the safe haven of love. To me, it was a feeling that I had finally found the man that I truly loved and cherished, the man who felt the same way about me. My heart had finally found a haven where I could safely love and be loved without the fear of being hurt. We both had gone through bitter marriages before we met. We now knew we could love and trust one another. We had reached our true destination. And so it was. For more than thirty years we lived in this cocoon of love, in a haven of true love.

Before I met my beloved husband, I did not believe that such a beautiful love truly existed. I thought it was something that they wrote about in storybooks and in fairytales. But that is not so. Love like that truly does exist. Peter and I were blessed with it. Our marriage consisted of such a love. It was filled with mutual respect and harmony. We had both come out of tumultuous and painful marriages. We both were wary of getting married again, of getting hurt.

However, when we met each other, it seemed that the angels in heaven sang joyful hosannahs! We instinctively knew that we had at last found our soulmates. We were no longer two individuals but one loving and caring unit. Sometimes I had to pinch myself to make sure we were experiencing such a deep, pure love! Each time he entered the house and called, “Hello! I’m home!” my heart leaped with sheer joy. Even now that he has gone to the Almighty all these many years, I still feel his love within my very being. Each night when I am ready to sleep, I whisper, “Good night, my love.” I imagine him saying, “You’re not alone. I am always with you.” Reassured, I sigh a little sigh, close my eyes and fall asleep.

And now that God has taken him away, even through the pain and loneliness, I know, I truly feel his love for me and mine for him is still there. I feel his presence surrounding me. I hear him whispering in my head, “Patience! Patience. We will be reunited again.”