By Lida Prypchan
Wise is the man who is able to go back and begin again.
The night they met – that pale, full-mooned night – they felt they had found that special something they had searched for all their lives.
And, in truth it was so. Luisa’s eyes were big and sparkling, her lips moist, words just tumbling out. It was as if they had known and then lost each other in some previous existence.
They talked and laughed, they knew everything, they kissed passionately and were madly in love. To embrace was to feel nature in all its force and magnitude, to feel the love so long a waited. Time went by and the feeling only increased. It was as though they had been parched with thirst and suddenly found a spring of fresh, crystal waters.
They had read the same books, even before they were together and hardly knew one another…and now they were like twins sharing the same tastes the same opinions, the same feelings, the same dislikes. They would sometimes wonder, “How is it we haven’t met before? You are what I was searching for. This seems like too much happiness for one person. I feel so alive by your side and I know if I get used to this wonderful feeling, I’ll never feel the same without you.” They enjoyed music together. He shared his favorites with her and she passed on her love for boleros – and they would stay up night after night dancing right through till dawn! They got to know each other very quickly, sharing many secrets, but suddenly, without warning, they found they had given too much, for all practical purposes they had reached the end.
Since they had reached the end, now they had to find their way back to the beginning. Time was making them more guarded, more critical, more possessive…But they couldn’t let their love fade: they had to find a way to go back and start all over again, forget everything they’d read, reject what they’d learnt, cast aside all they had worked at so hard. They had to scrap everything that had seemed so cut and dried, expose what had been protected, disavow what had been vowed, rebut what had been proved, disorganize what had been organized, discourage what had been encouraged, above all, refuse to accept what was accepted, waken what was dormant, unfetter what was fettered, untune what had been tuned, unbind what was bound disregard what was appreciated, separate what was attached, loosen up what had become so rigid, disparage what was approved, uproot their roots, disentangle themselves from the mesh…in short, they had to rekindle their passion and begin to live again.
When they had accomplished this, they took a bath, went down to the bar, put on the song I forgot how to live and began at the beginning – as it should be!
