The Second Fall

Against all the demands of norm, she flung her true self out to the world with carefree delight. She knew who she was and embraced her every scar, her every inadequacy, her every flaw… She knew that her soul’s colors, though stained, were indeed still vibrant. Her experiences, like tapestry, were woven so intricately – creating a picture of the vivacious life she had already been living.

Not too far in the distance, he noticed her again.

She never dimmed this growing flare inside for anyone. She was tired of those who placed expectations and imposed limitations on her as a person. And so with all the passion, eccentricity and valor that would have made Shakespeare and Van Gogh proud; she ran out into the field of life, oblivious to any ditch that could have been waiting anywhere ahead. Happiness was never too far with this freedom in her heart.

He then followed her like a steady cloud.

She knew he was there, and she stopped leisurely to let him enter her life again. Keeping a watchful eye, however, she kept her emotional distance from him with the caution of an untrusting feline.

Friendship blossomed steadily as he quietly strode beside her for the rest of the days that followed. He had let her run further into her field of vivid thoughts and dreams – watching, listening and somewhat even guiding, when her paths came to sudden turns and dead-ends.

He saw the true her, and still reached for her hand – knowing very well not to let go.

Inundated with the worries of a heart slowly unbolting to emotion, she became fearful of the sudden ease she began to feel with his lingering presence. There was the simplicity she had long sought with him before. He had suddenly singled himself out from the other men that had entered her life before him -- with his simple gestures of affection and quiet understanding of the world she lived in.

Then like an anchor dropping in the currents of her life, the happy days came to a sudden halt when she stumbled and fell off a cliff not too far from where she had been running.

Seconds before plummeting to the ground below, it was he who flashed in her mind; and her hopes that he would be there to break her fall. On the steady descent down to her greatest failure, two arms locked around her…

And there he was…

Catching her when she needed him most.

***

She was now back in the very same golden field. More days had passed, and from her guarded heart grew a more vulnerable and trusting one. The field was her haven, and she was slowly beginning to let him become part of the happiness it brought her. It was as sure as gravity that her thoughts and care began to evolve around him.




With the distance closing more and more between them, she finally saw him too.


And finally, let herself fall...



(June 4, 2010)