Two floral teacups lean toward each other, their handles joined by a thin gold thread on pink cloth.

Original artwork, not a still

Nicholas Rowe

The joys of meeting pay the pangs of absence; else who could bear it?

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Being apart hurts, and coming back together makes up for it. Rowe frames meeting as the payment that makes absence bearable. Without that reward, he asks, who could stand the missing? It's a warm, slightly rueful thought.

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