In Search of Love
No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.
Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.
Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,
sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.
— Pablo Neruda, Soneto XVII, Cien Sonetos de Amor
Love, something everyone seeks. A mere common word which is considered powerful. Just a word, which moved Neruda to write his critically acclaimed love poems, eventually led him to be known as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. Indeed, love is something beautiful as well as powerful, meaningful as well as harmful. In short, it’s a double-edged sword. Only people who know how to wield it can truly find happiness. Otherwise, love will only be a downfall. How to wield it, then?
You know, this subject is tricky. You just can’t help the feeling, head over heels for someone, ready to die for them, only to waking up heartbroken. You can finally stand again, finding someone new, only to be back to square one. You love again. You’re hurt again. You feel like running in a never-ending circle just to find your better half. Then, you start to not believe in love. Oh, despair not. Try to trace back what you did wrong. Clueless? You think you did nothing wrong?
Perhaps, you loved them too much.
What’s with it, you say? Well, first, common sense, fella: everything too much is never good. Let me share to you something precious a friend told me this morning, “If you love someone or something more than you love Allah and His prophets, it’ll never work out.” I’ve heard this many times, but this time it hit me hard. I started to look back, and realised how I’ve been living fancying vain things instead of praying. I might perform my prayers full time, but my time for looking up the vain things I like was more than the time I used to communicate with God.
Is it the case with you too? If yes, we found your problem. The solution is easy, but of course, easier said than done. If you want someone to be your future, get closer to Allah, not to them. If the person you want falls to someone else’s embrace, then surely Allah has a better one, in fact the best, in store for you. The key is to love someone because of Allah. Just let Allah guide you to the right path, believe in Him. If you make Allah your beloved King, for whom you do everything, then you could be united with that someone, even if they are in the other hemisphere of the globe.
I’m no one to tell you this, but heed what I shared to you. Let’s do this the right way, hand in hand, reminding each other to be better. Insha’Allah we’ll build our happy little palace here and in the afterlife :)
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