Photograph by marirs
What happens to a love that you’re unable to explore, that first spark, that, which starts with temptation?
Does it wither away?
Scorched, burned, a wound that’s best left untended? A pain that’s best left forgotten?
Does it remain an unextinguished temptation?
Inappropriate desires, fantasies, reality gone unchecked? Passion fulfilled in dreams?
Perhaps it becomes a self-doubting, lingering question?
Guilt ridden, what have I done? What am I doing? Should I think this way? Should I feel this way?
Maybe, it warps into an unyielding, nagging regret?
Years gone by, time wasted? Chances missed - the ever present, What if?
Does it fester; rot you from the inside out?
Make you bitter at not having what you ought, what you deserve?
Or does it remain a youthful bud?
A memory, evergreen, bittersweet, unspoiled? A tear, a sigh, a smile? Never forgotten, a private reminiscence always visited - in the mind, in the heart?
- RaatKiRanii (K.F.S)
"The Oxford History of Islam" by John L. Esposito (Editor)
"O wave! Plunge headlong into the dark seas,
And change thyself with many a twist and turn;
Thou wast not born for tile solace of the shore;
Arise, untamed, and find a path for thyself."
- Allama Muhammad Iqbal
It’s interesting you should explore this aspect of love, which is so often left unexplored despite that it must be quite common. I’ve known a few loves that went nowhere — mostly because one or the other of us moved away. Your last two lines aptly describe how I’ve reconciled myself to those loves.
I’ve always wondered what people do, and how they think, and deal after that first spark is all done and over with - do they just let it go? I don’t think so. I know I couldn’t just let it go and simply forget. Move on, sure, but forget, no. Everyone leaves an impression, a footprint in the sand that’s my life. Also, I think how we deal with such matters says a lot about who we are and how we live our lives.
It’s beautiful that you should keep your many unexplored loves so unspoiled. I personally see them as little treasures, like any experience, all the people , all the loves we encounter enrich us in a way.
Yes! That’s exactly it! I would never give up those unexplored loves even though there was some pain involved in each — but the riches that came from them! Those loves have been genuine treasures which have often sustained me.
It remains forevermore buried in ones heart and soul…..
deeply shielded from light yet lingers on….
yet always kept alive as a flickering candle in the wind. Sustained, by means or reasons not clear.
better to have loved then not to have loved at all…..yet…..If things had been different.. somewhere in time….
Man and destiny, a strange duet……..
A strange duet indeed, yet one our heart, mind, body, and soul sustain nonetheless.