She thought she knew her journey.
She thought she was starting to lift.
Until she didn’t.
And one day she saw her reflection.
The mirror said ‘’You shall not lift, if you haven’t fallen yet’’.
‘’How does one fall?’’ she wondered.
‘’One falls in love’’.
So she did.
She fell in love with a person, a dream, an idea.
She smiled at first. The illusion is always irresistible.
Until it isn’t.
Time brings clarity. And as the clock ticks the illusion fades away.
She stood in front of the mirror yet again.
Her reflection had changed. Her smile was gone. Pain was all she could face.
‘’I don’t know who I am no more’’ she mumbled.
‘’Yes, you do. You are neither your smiles, nor your tears. If something can be and then not, then it is not permanent. It is not you. When you fall, all you are left with is nothing’’.
‘’So that I am? Nothing?’’
The mirror laughed.
‘’Oh, indeed! Because when you are nothing, you can become Everything!’’
She washed her tears away and looked once more at her reflection.
‘’So that I am! Nothing!’’ She now saw it clearly and smiled her way through life.
Had she known that to reach the sky she must first fall on the ground.
Had she known that to become whole she must first be crashed.
Had she known, she wouldn’t have learned..
Had she known, she wouldn’t have loved…
by Maria Hadjistylli