Eros and Psyche

It is Valentine's Day and a time for a bit of romantic reflection...

I saw the Tony award winning play "Metamorphoses" today. It is 8 Greek myths that are intertwined. I had some mythology in college and mythology was a means to explain the reasons of life...most myths are tragic, but there are a few that are very happy stories, such as Eros and Psyche. I forgot this one, but was reminded and how apropriate for a romantic like me on the day before her favorite holiday.

The myth goes like this:
Eros (Cupid) was the son of Aphrodite (Venus, goddess of love). Eros always wore a blindfold...true love is blind and the heart knows the soul. And He fell in love with a beautiful mortal named Psyche. Psyche means soul...
Psyche had 3 sisters that were very jealous of her and told her that Eros was a monster and because of that, Psyche couldn't bear to look at her handsome husband. In the meantime, her mother-in-law, Aphrodite, was jealous of the beauty of Psyche and that she was able to capture the heart of her only son. So she punished Psyche by giving her horrible tedious and often time intensive and very lonley tasks to do, such as sorting out very tiny seeds from each other that are in great huge piles.
But as in every good fairytale, Psyche is loved and adored by many, including the animal kingdom, so the littlist of animals and insects help her with these drudges that Aphrodite gives her, so that she can be with the man she loves.
Psyche has many fears and is always watching out for everything. Psyche also desires to see her husband. So by candlelight, she enters their bedroom just to look. As she gazes adoringly and lustily at her handsome husband, she accidentally lets some candle wax fall on his shoulder burning and waking her husband from a deep sleep. He is startled and howls in pain and she flees in fear of him, believing that he is the monster that her sisters have led her to believe.
Finally...Zeus, watches all of this and knows all that has taken place. He watches Psyche go through her days in fear and guardedness and says ENOUGH IS ENOUGH already!!! He sees that the two of them love each other so very much. So, he makes Psyche an immortal ( which angers Aphrodite royally and pisses off the sisters)and grants that the love of Eros and Psyche live on forever. Psyche then goes back into the darkened room where her beloved is and wakes him. And they begin their forever...
The moral - to quote the play:

"It's just inevitable the Soul wanders in the dark, until it finds love. And so, wherever our love goes... there, we find our soul.
It always happens - if we are lucky. And if we let ourselves be blind instead of always watching out."

Maybe, I should be closing my eyes a little more.