An excerpt from The Art of Falling in Love about passion.
Passion, though sexual, is much more. It is a craving for oneness with the other. Sexual passion subsides with the length of relationship, but passion can grow throughout a lifetime. It’s the emotion you feel when you experience something wonderful — maybe a gorgeous sunset, or an exciting event — and the first thought that springs to mind is the wish that your lover were with you to share it. This passion keeps love not only alive, but also dynamic, and is even better in older ages than at younger ones.
Love screams out for passion. Feeling. Expressions of those feelings in thought, word, and action. Lovers laugh together, sometimes loudly! Lovers feel free to whoop, holler, sing, dance, throw kisses, or just sit together on a swing, neither saying a word. They can fall at each other’s feet or just watch the other sleep. They experience and express emotions varying from ecstasy to joy to peace to contentment. Whatever they feel, they do not hide. They share more than their mutual existences; they share their hearts and their minds.
Isn’t that what makes romance so exhilarating? Think of a young man passionately in love. He gets excited at the sight of his lover, thinks about her constantly when he is away from her, and sees her as the most beautiful girl in the world. He would rather be with her than anyone else and cannot imagine anyone making him as happy. Nothing is more important to him than his relationship with her. Her adores her, cannot imagine life without her. Any thought of losing her creates immediate panic. If you have experienced passion for your beloved, you know how wonderful it is and relish the sensations of such intensely romantic love.