Plato describes the physical transformations a soul experiences after being pierced by Eros’s arrow: “The shoulder blades which up until now have been rigid, melt open, and small wings begin to swell and grow from the root upwards. Like a child whose teeth are just starting to grow in, the gums are all aching and tingling—that is exactly how the soul feels when it begins to grow wings.” But when your beloved fails to phone you after three weeks, the soul feels like a child whose budding teeth have been knocked out.
