✨Side of the Road✨

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Waiting by the side of the road

Watching the world pass ahead 

In search of an adventure to come

In search of stories I've read.

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Have a thirst that goes beyond

Skin-deep love we've come to know. 

I've been called idealistic 

More times than I care to show.

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But I chose to keep the fire alive 

For I've felt deep love on the side of the road. 

It's in the waiting, that all is revealed

The love and adventures which lie in our souls.

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In the waiting, is where we see

That there is no need for us to wait 

The whole world is within us

The path, itself, is our fate.

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No need for a destination

For the one with a lightened heart

No false expectations made

When you're content where you are.

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So come, sit down and share with me 

This still view of cars to pass

We can wait together, side by side

For as long as the waiting lasts.

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Let's fall in love with this moment

Let the love selflessly explode 

Because the universe, believe it or not,

Lies right here, by the side of the road 💛

A Little Bit of Love

I want love to be the filter through which I see everything. I want love to be the path I walk on.  I want love to be the after-taste of this life. Life, a cuisine so intricately delicious, but only when it is sprinkled with love as its main spice, for without it, there is no taste.

          This is an understanding I have gotten to only very recently because, before now, I struggled with what love truly meant to me. Sometimes, I still struggle with it. The meanings or associations typically given to love, at least from what I see, are never the associations that I could relate to. Look at Valentine's Day, for instance. A day dedicated to love, and all people can think about is whether they will receive chocolates and flowers *insert deep eye roll* Also, it's suppose to be a whole day dedicated to all things love, yet most people seem to boil it down to only romantic relationships when there are so many other things in this world, and so many people to love. I judge the day, not for its desired sentiment, but because I think it makes a mockery of what love is. Most people recognize that it's just a hallmark holiday, even the ones that celebrate it, but do they recognize how much the day, itself, shows us that love has come to be understood as some kind of transaction, something to be given only when something else is received in return?

          To view love as a transaction is to poison its very essence. There is strength in the ability to give love to the world and expect nothing in return. There's a part of you that disagrees, and I know this, because that part exists in me too. However, I have come to learn that that part of us, which disagrees, is the part that is fragile, is the part that's afraid to get hurt, afraid to be taken advantage of, and, therefore, it cannot be the part of us that possesses strength, although it very much tries to convey otherwise. Real strength comes from the ability to accept the flow of life and the flow of people, with all of their ups and downs and unpredictability, and to love them anyway. I believe that love, in its truest form, has no opposite. It's this type of love that I wish to feel, not only for a person, but for all people, for moments, for life. I wish to feel the type of love that connects me with everything and everyone. I may sound like a naive dreamer who is living up in the clouds, but I've had momentary experiences when I've had a taste of it. I know it's there, and I know it's possible, and I know that it's the best feeling that anyone can ever have because it feels like home.

       

Anxiety, My Lover

Anxiety comes to me in shortness of breath, as I find myself gasping for air [that is polluted with lost dreams and hopes.]

He comes to me with a sudden rapid beating in my chest, and for a moment I lose myself [as I feel the walls caving in on my heart, squeezing it for every last bit of light it has left.]

He, the lover that has been with me for so long. 

He, who has gazed into my tired eyes and [selfishly] said “I will always be there.” 

He, who has caused my fingers to shake.

He, who has taught me the meaning of peace [only in his absence.]

He turns my excited butterflies into blind bats slamming against walls because they need to escape. 

And I invite him back every time because I can’t let go. I’m anxious without my lover, Anxiety. Who am I without him? 

He who comes to me when I’m at my loneliest, but at least he comes to me. 

By: Banafshé Eshragi