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The Long Leash of Love
There is nothing so boundless as the reach of love.
Having journeyed from beyond the boundaries of the afterworld, from the opening of each day to the closing of the night to follow, in dream and waking life alike, from place to place and continent to continent, with inexhaustible patience, equally indifferent to moments as to years, the memory of her departed love follows the widow, sometimes as a stinging fly and other times as a warm zephyr, for not even death can sunder the intangible cord of love.
There is a thing that stretches from one end of eternity to another and neatly ties up the universe with a bow, as if it were as small as a ring box. Like a web woven with the thread of fate, all of humanity is bound together in this invisible tapestry, which, whether bane or blessing, heeds not the wants of those ensnared. In this life of mine, as in yours, so many have left indelible marks upon my soul, and try though I might, they shall never be effaced. There is no place far enough, no time sufficiently distant, where one can exist free in forgetfulness from the delights and demons of love.
In a world of whirling change, of shifting seasons and settings suns, of rushing rivers and rising tides, without the slightest moment of tranquil standstill to be had, sheltered within the heart of every person, there is some happy moment plucked from an amorous episode, transmuted into an imperishable memory, which serves as an island in this sea of fluid transience, and all else being subject to decay, this alone remains forever fresh and young, so that even underneath skin wavy with wrinkles and hair snowed by time, the seed of love flourishes without the slightest notice of eternity.
Martin Vidal is the author of The Ambition Handbook: A Guide for Ambitious Persons
