(Middelburg, 20 February 1870 – The Hague, 14 March 1943).
Author name P.C. Boutens.
Dutch poet and classicist.
Photo: wikipedia.org.
Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache, do be my enemy – for friendship’s sake.
Image: Peter van Geest AI. Meaning: refers to the pain that can arise from friendship and the dilemma that sometimes love requires distance. It is a plea for sacrifice: by becoming an enemy, one can hopefully protect the friendship and oneself. This fits in with Boutens’ theme of sensitive surrender and the ambivalent experiences of connection and loss. This poetic line of thought shows that true friendship can bring not only happiness, but also pain and sacrifice. Sometimes, out of love, it is necessary to withdraw so that the other person, and you yourself, can heal. That is “for the sake of friendship”. Source: The quote in question originates from Boutens’ poetic tradition, which regularly explored the tension between closeness and distance in friendship and love. His work reflects on the vulnerability that intimacy brings and on the paradoxical desire for distance to protect the vulnerable heart. Although the exact poem from which this sentence comes is not mentioned in the search results, descriptions of his work and literary analyses indicate that Boutens often writes about friendship in this way, for example in ‘Liber amicorum’ and in reflections on the Egidiuslied. Sometimes, incorrectly, attributed to William Blake.
Door Pieter
Mensenmens, zoon, echtgenoot, vader, opa.
Spiritueel, echter niet religieus.
Ik hou van golf, wandelen, lezen en de natuur in veel opzichten.
Onderzoeker, nieuwsgierig, geen fan van de mainstream media (MSM).
