Aspects of coherence and decoherence are analyzed within the optical Bloch equations. By rewriting the analytic solution in an alternate form, we are able to emphasize a number of unusual features: (a) despite the Markovian nature of the bath, coherence at long times can be retained; (b) the long-time asymptotic degree of coherence in the system is intertwined with the asymptotic difference in level populations; (c) the traditional population-relaxation and decoherence times, T 1 and T 2 , lose their meaning when the system is in the presence of an external field, and are replaced by more general overall timescales; (d) increasing the field strength, quantified by the Rabi frequency, Ω, increases the rate of decoherence rather than reducing it, as one might expect; and (e) maximum asymptotic coherence is reached when the system parameters satisfy Ω 2 = 1/(T 1 T 2 ).