A reader: “John, you could cut and paste the entire second act of Trisan und Isolde. Anyone for some ‘death-in-love’?”

Hard to disagree. Sample:

“Thus might we die,

that together,

ever one,

without end,

never waking,

never fearing,

namelessly

enveloped in love,

given up to each other,

to live only for love!”

And it’s even worse in German.

This is the famous Liebestod — a great favorite of Hitler’s.