Love never passes except to remain

Was love then just a passing dream,
a perfume of seduction
like a cloud dispersed by any wind,
a fragment of a dream to never be remembered,
a terrible delusion without reason?
But the dream was there and lingers still
and can not be forgotten or denied
and will continue haunting you
as long as you remain alive;
since any love, and even the most brief, is true,
and nothing can recant it or control it.
Love once given will remain with you forever
as a lasting remedy, reward or nightmare – as you wish,
and only you yourself can give it any character.