🪽 From Night to Apricity: Soaring With The Wings Of Love.

The word ‘love’ usually evokes thoughts of romance, of kisses and lovely gestures. And fair enough, romantic love is so powerful, it consumes us so wholly, it is felt the most strongly.

But love can be so many other things. I’ve always believed love was the gentlest yet strongest power on earth. Would we be alive if not for love? If our mothers didn’t love us, if the rain didn’t love the earth, if souls didn’t meet as one?

Nothing is more painful or detrimental than misunderstanding love.

No matter how independent you think you are, how successful, and how long you've come on your own, love is a power that requires you to surrender yourself to it, completely and fully.

Love is a power that reigns over everything else.

And I realize that it's not the sun that lights up the days, it's him. I never thought I could be so utterly in awe of another being until I reunited with him.

So honestly, whether you like it or not, love will consume you, submerge you completely, you will sink deep in it, but that does not mean that you will drown.

And it doesn't mean that you will give up on your dreams and aspirations, or that you’ll lose yourself, it's quite the contrary. In fact, you'll find things that would help you on your journey, you’ll realize that the right love, isn’t a hindrance. You’ll understand that with the right partner, the right love, you’ll go farther than you ever could do, alone.

Love is not controlling nor is it possessive.

Love doesn’t control you, it does not impose its power upon you oppressively.

It takes positive ownership of you, it tells you ‘you are a part of me now, I care about what’s in your best interest as though it were mine’. But it does not use your vulnerabilities and weaknesses against you.

Love is not possessive in the way you’d pluck a rose for its beauty and scent, to have it only for it to die sooner than what was meant for it, nor in the way you’d have a beautiful bird all to yourself, to enjoy its feathers and songs.

Love leaves the rose in its right place, in a soil where the beauty and scent remain longer, where the sun can get to it. It lets the bird fly up high in the sky, where the feathers don’t fall and the music does not stop. Trusting that it will come back to you, happy and fulfilled to be yours.

Love doesn’t take away your freedom or stops you from doing what you want.

Love doesn’t demand you to change, to conform to a shape that you’re not in order to fit in a mold.

Love is not a cage in which you wither and die.

It gently guides you to change for the better, it cares about your dreams and helps you fulfill them. It’s not always with direct words and actions. Sometimes, the compassion that is fed to you helps you see yourself and the world in a better light, it gives you hope that you’re able to change, that you have it in you. And it doesn’t stop you from following your joy.

Love supports your dreams because it wants you to be happy, your best interest is in its best interest. It does not acquire confidence from demeaning you, it does not gain happiness from hurting you.

You are a part of it, but whole as you are. And you are not less than it.

Love is not all sacrifice that leaves you angry and resentful.

Love won’t ask you to sacrifice who you are and what you care for the sake of it. Your best interests are in its best interest. Anything that is against what’s best for you hurts them too.

Love doesn’t demand your all and leave you hanging empty.

Sometimes compromises should be made, a peaceful agreement. One that doesn’t require using you up and leaving you to wither, to sacrifice yourself only to be resentful because you never got that back.

Often times, we give out so much of ourselves and when we don’t get at least something back, (even if we thought we expected nothing), we grow resentful and passive-aggressive with our partners, we feel burnt out and underappreciated.

People say love is 50/50, but I believe that love is 100/100.

Each person gives their best daily. But it’s important to know that ‘their best’ (and yours) can look different from day to day.

Love doesn’t shame you or judge you for who you are, your scars, your fears, your past.

You can be vulnerable with love, you can show your scars and fresh wounds and it won’t hurt you more, it won’t shame you, it won’t use it against you, it wouldn’t blame you nor would it judge you.

Love understands, or at least wants and tries its best to understand why you are the way you are. The trauma that led to today, the insecurities that they don’t relate to but still respect, the fears that may seem ‘irrational’ to others but are nonetheless reassured.

You can be who you are, and you can open up and it will accept you back.

Love doesn’t need you to be perfect, because that’s not possible. It just wants you to be authentic, honest. And even if (and you will) mess up, love wants to guide you to how to love better.

Love doesn’t abuse its power.

Love is such a powerful and beautiful feeling, you can feel it everywhere in your body, you can see it and hear it, it can consume you and fill you, it can make you fly while your feet are on the ground.

But that means that it can also bring you down just as hard.

Because love truly requires vulnerability and opening up, and this is how it has power. But this doesn’t have to be scary, because love respects and understands your pain, it doesn’t use it against you.

Love, real love, doesn’t flash its sword at you to make you afraid, it doesn’t threaten you, even when it knows your weakest spots.

Love is strong but it doesn’t need to show it, because love uses its strength in making you safe, in protecting you, from others, but also from itself.

Love isn’t conditional.

Love doesn’t put conditions when it gives, this doesn’t mean that things should always be one-sided, in fact, it shouldn’t be that at all. But there are no restrictions in love. You don’t have to be a certain way, you don’t have to change your appearance, you don’t need to achieve the best of things, to be loved. You are simply, loved. Because you deserve to be.

And yet, it’s important to note that supporting someone on their journey to becoming better is one of the best gifts. No one will ever be perfect, love accepts you but it helps you, directly or indirectly, in becoming the best version of yourself.

• Love is all encompassing, providing containment and a shelter.

• Love lays out the space for you to become who you are in a way that truly aligns with your soul and brings you fulfillment.

• Love casts its wings over you protectively, shielding you from harm.

• Love accepts you fully, with your scars and wounds.

• Love has power over you, but it protects you and keeps you safe. It knows and understands you.

• Love is an unconditional, unending energy that flows to your being, nurtures your soul and heals your heart.

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📝 Author’s Note

To the night we met, many nights ago.
From nightfall till sunrise.
From a cruel winter to a rising apricity.
You were always there,
In the shadows of a dark night.
In the shapes of a clear sky.
I’ve waited ages for you,
But I’ll wait many more,
For a love like yours
And a heart like mine
Cannot help but intertwine
In every lifetime,
In every age,
In every place,
My soul will find its way back to yours
They may cut my wings
They may turn off the lights
But your one and only love
Grows my wings higher
Lights my path brighter
So that I may always find my way back to you
So that I may recognize you blind, deaf and shattered
Because you’re all I really know
All I really love
More than life itself.

-The night we met, preceded by sleepless nights, forgotten nights, nights where you were with me. Followed by happy nights, intimate nights, nights where you are with me.
07/12