"The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it. You and you alone make me feel that I am alive. Other men it is said have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough"

Love has often been likened to spaces imbued with beauty and serenity, but rarely does one encounter such a vivid tapestry of metaphors as in George Edward Moore’s declaration. Hours shared with a beloved are transformed from mere measures of time into a “perfumed garden,” a domain full of fragrance, color, and gentle growth. The garden symbolizes not just delight to the senses, but also a nurturing environment in which affections bloom. There is a sensual element to the comparison, the sweetness of flowers, the calmness of nature, suggesting the presence of the beloved fills the air itself with something precious and rare.

The setting then shifts from the brightness of the garden to “a dim twilight,” invoking intimacy and tranquility. Twilight is an ambiguous time, bridging day and night, heavy with possibility and reflection. It softens the edge of reality, inviting gentle introspection and enhancing the experience of closeness. Moore’s reference to a “fountain singing” evokes an aural beauty; the persistent, musical movement of water amid stillness becomes a joyful backdrop, reflecting the way shared love quietly animates an otherwise subdued world.

Within these sacred hours, the beloved becomes essential to Moore’s sense of being. It is not merely companionship or amusement but a confirmation of his own vitality: “You and you alone make me feel that I am alive.” The beloved’s presence awakens the spirit and sharpens the awareness of existence in a way nothing else can.

Others may claim supernatural visions, witnessing “angels,” but for Moore, such transcendence is unnecessary. The beloved’s existence is higher than miraculous, beyond the need for further wonders. In seeing the beloved, he finds fulfillment, for her presence suffices, encompassing all the beauty, serenity, and ecstasy that life or even legends could promise. The quote is a paean to the quiet, transformative power of intimate love.