One comes to understand many things after 97 years of life. Here’s one: Sex may fade, but love …. that’s forever.

So says Issur Danielovitch, the man better known to the world as the nonagenarian actor Kirk Douglas. In an item this week on the Huffington Post, Douglas comes to the defense of his “friend” David Wolpe, the influential Los Angeles rabbi recently the subject of a front-page story in The New York Times describing the blowback in his congregation to his decision to perform gay marriage ceremonies.

Opposing gay marriage, Douglas writes, is opposing love. And who could be against love? Douglas even includes a poem to demonstrate how love can persevere into old age. Here’s the first few stanzas:

Romance Begins at 80
And I ought to know.
I live with a girl
Who will tell you so.

I sit by her bath
As she soaks in the tub.
Then help her out
For a strong towel rub.

She likes that a lot
But before I tire.
It’s time to pour the wine
And start lighting the fire.

As the fire crackles,
We talk of the past
We met over 50 years ago
Did you think it would last?

Ben Harris is JTA’s news editor. In his seven years with JTA, he has reported from more than 15 countries. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, New York magazine, among other publications.