Am I "Nature Boy"?

At the beginning of Moulin Rouge there is an establishing scene in which we see the Moulin Rouge and surrounding environs after their downfall. This is interspersed with shots of John Leguizamo singing a song entitled "Nature Boy" which was originally by Nat King Cole and later redone by David Bowie. The text of the song is as follows:

There was a boy
A very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far
Very far
Over land and sea

A little shy
And sad of eye
But very wise was he

And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many thing
Fools and Kings
This he said to me:

"The greatest thing
you'll ever learn
is just to love
and be loved in return."


I have begun to wonder to what extent this describes me. Few (if any) of my friends would hesitate to describe me as strange, and I myself might go so far as to describe myself as "enchanted". The second stanza is particularly poignant: "A little shy (that's me) and sad of eye (also me) but very wise was he (me again!)".

The third stanza is mostly story development, aside from the topics including "fools and kings" suggesting that every topic from the frivolous to the very serious was covered... and I have been known to speak about things of import as well as silliness.

It's the fourth stanza that gives me pause:

"The greatest thing
you'll ever learn
is just to love
and be loved in return."

I do, in my opinion, know how to love. I'm not so sure, however, that I know how to express that love in the best way. My ex-wife (with whom I am still good friends) might say that I had a very tiny wheelhouse of ways in which to express my love for her... and that perhaps I should have worked to find other ways to show how I felt. I also don't know if I'm particularly receptive to the love of others. I don't know how to read their feelings if their actions are outside of my own experience with the demonstration of love.

The reason I'm harping on all of this is related to something from my previous post, wherein I mentioned that there was a particular woman to whom I was attracted. I have been afraid to tell her how I really feel for a variety of reasons:

1) Fear of rejection
2) Fear of irrevocably damaging the current friendship
3) Fear that I make an ass of myself while fumbling for the words
4) Fear that the sum of our personal baggage crushes the relationship
5) Fear that she will choose the other men in her life over me

Will I be able to love her in a way she needs/wants/understands?
Will she be able to love me in a way that I need/want/understand?

"The greatest thing
I'll ever learn
Is just to love
And be loved in return"