The sun rises in its glory on a fine morning
With all things seemingly fine and fair
Only that someone’s heart is yearning
Yearning not for money and fame
But for someone else,
Someone special,
Someone dear and lovely to the heart,
Someone beautiful, if not handsome,
Someone that makes one’s heart
See nothing else, in the whole world
Other than him or her as it may apply!
On that very day
One’s heart says, “Here is the person!”
All courage,
Courage enough to face a wild lion
Is summoned and put into action
For a move to meet the “stranger”
Thus, the two “strangers” meet each other
With light and yet touching smiles on their faces
The interest is developed and pursued
Breaking through all obstacles,
Defying all odds,
And coming to a serious conclusion;
A conclusion to love!
To love a “stranger” with great intimacy,
To trust the “stranger”
Even with one’s life!
What an unexplainable phenomenon!
The two become one
After a long struggle
Through the opposing obstacles and tests;
One then becomes a wife, and
The other becomes a husband.
With a smile, their love begun;
With a kiss, their love grew;
But with a tear, their love will come to an end.
After days of romance and love making,
The ‘strangers’ in the two begin to germinate.
Thriving on each and every misunderstanding,
Creating a rift in the two
A rift that never was- or so they thought,
A rift that each knew would come,
Yet little or even nothing was done to end,
And prevent it.
Days come, days go and months pass
The sweet loving smiles pass away
Being replaced by fumed up faces
The lovely and soothing words fade away
Silence and tension fills the air
Regrets and blame game crop up
The rift widens.
More ‘strangers’ join the two.
Only that these ‘strangers’ are lovely and innocent.
Brought about by the unity that once was;
And only calling for simple attention with a cry;
Not knowing the true picture of their surroundings.
Victims of circumstances they become,
For they never requested for their coming;
But only brought in by the once,
That was called “love”
Love that turned sour;
Ending in deep sited hate
Even to the point of death.
The new ‘strangers’ are somehow forced
To part ways with one or all of the two
The two that were once one.
For either artificial death, or divorce,
Not forgetting separation and even estrangement,
Creeps in, in the once was a lovely marriage and family
Marking the collapse of a happy marriage
With a tear on the eye lid
And a furrow in the “strangers’ hearts.”
But, what of our fore fathers?
Think of their marriages!
True marriages, they were,
Sidelining all odds;
Thriving to survive and endure;
For them,
The tear, marking the end;
Was mainly due to natural death
Think of a piece of timber,
Think of a timber producing tree,
Think of the quality of the timber;
Think of the conditions,
In which a timber producing tree grows;
The stronger the wind,
The harder the tree
And thus,
The better the quality of the timber.
You may be married,
You may not be,
You may be planning for marriage;
In whichever state you may be;
Forget you not, the rift
Ignore you not, the rift
If you ever dream of a lasting marriage
Think you not, that the rift never is.
For true it is,
Yes, the rift was always there;
For the two in marriage, once were “strangers”
Never knowing each other;
And neither going through
Similar life experiences and training since childhood.
Yes, then, the rift was in existence
Long before love built a bridge.
Creating a pseudo feeling
On the non-existence of the rift.
Work you then
On strengthening the bridge
Whose greatest beams and struts
Are love and trust respectively.
Strengthen yee then the love;
And make the trust unquestionable.
Endure the storm,
Endure the strong winds;
For the strongest of timber
Will surely come out;
An unshakeable marriage
Built on love and trust
With the awareness of the rift existence.
Forget you not then,
The building blocks.
The very ones that brought love;
Into existence within your heart
Forget you not smooth and sift flow
Flow of information;
What maybe is known as communication.
For only its effective application
Will bridge
The rift that never was.
By Capt Z A Amutsama