Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber

The words of Nathaniel Hawthorne shine with the clarity of eternal truth: “Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.” In this declaration, Hawthorne unveils the mystical power of love, that sovereign force which alters not only the secret chambers of the soul but also the very face of the earth. Love is not contained; it cannot be hidden like a flame beneath stone. Instead, when awakened, it bursts forth like the sun at dawn, spreading light beyond the heart that first felt it.

The meaning of newly born love is simple and wondrous. It is the first spark, like the opening of a flower at spring, or the song of a bird after a long winter. Such love makes the air lighter, the eyes brighter, and the burdens of life easier to bear. Yet Hawthorne speaks also of love aroused from a deathlike slumber, the kind that seemed gone, buried beneath years of sorrow, betrayal, or despair. When such a love awakens, its light is even more profound, for it emerges out of darkness, and in that contrast, its glow is fiercer and more enduring.

History bears witness to this truth. Consider Dante Alighieri, whose love for Beatrice lived beyond death itself. Though Beatrice passed from the earth when Dante was still young, his love for her, seemingly lost, awakened within his heart with greater power as the years went on. It became the flame that guided him through the Divine Comedy, lifting him from despair to vision, from exile to eternal song. Dante’s Beatrice was love reborn from a deathlike slumber, and it created sunshine so radiant that it still warms the hearts of readers centuries later.

The radiance of love is not confined to lovers alone. When a heart is filled with genuine affection, it overflows into all aspects of life. A man in love speaks kindly not only to his beloved but also to strangers. A woman in love moves with a lightness that inspires even those who merely pass her in the street. Hawthorne understood that love spills beyond the private and becomes a blessing upon the public world—it is contagious light. One lamp lit in the soul can kindle a thousand more.

Yet let us not mistake love for mere passion or fleeting desire. The sunshine Hawthorne describes is not born of selfish craving, but of the kind of love that gives rather than takes. True love creates abundance, never scarcity. It makes the heart so full that it must pour out into deeds—gentleness to children, patience with the weary, mercy to the fallen. This is the kind of love that transforms not only lives but civilizations, as when Mahatma Gandhi’s love for truth and justice inspired millions to rise peacefully against oppression. His heart’s radiance spilled over into a movement that altered history itself.

What lesson, then, must we carry from these words? It is this: do not fear love, whether it comes for the first time or returns after years of silence. Welcome it, nurture it, and allow it to transform you. Do not hide it as a miser hoards gold, but let it shine forth in words, in deeds, in the smallest gestures of compassion. For the measure of love is not how deeply it is felt, but how widely it is shared.

Practical wisdom calls us to action: if love has touched your heart, let it guide your steps. Write to the friend you have neglected, forgive the enemy you have hardened against, offer warmth to the stranger who shivers in the cold. These are the rays of love made visible, the sunshine overflowing into the outward world.

Thus Hawthorne’s words stand as an eternal command: embrace love, in its birth and its rebirth, for it is the only force that can turn the winter of the soul into everlasting spring. Let your heart be so full of radiance that it cannot help but bless the world around you. And remember always—love must create sunshine.