Love and Trust

We had both come with ideas, about Love, that we had laid out on canvas and frame. Beautiful and exquisite landscapes painted from a collision of childhood heavens and pubertal omnipotence. But when the other person did not quite fit into our frame, we tried to make them fit into the frame. We discussed, we coerced; eventually we yelled. We pushed, we shoved; eventually we hit. A man once said: There can be no atrocities in war, because war itself is an atrocity.

Then, we were left with only reciprocal frustration and equivocal hatred. We were quantum particles with opposite paths and a probability of emotional annihilation. And for what? A single moment of reconciliation? The rare glance of recognition? Can any man really believe that, once he hits her, she will ever trust him again? Can any woman really believe that, once she is unfaithful, he will ever trust her again?

There is a certain way that real lovers hold each other; an embrace of unconscious familiarity that no one-night stand or afternoon rendezvous can compare to. And once you have lost that special trust, you will never win it back. So if you ever really loved her once, then just walk away, man. Just walk away.

-Just a peasant

Photo from the Octogon Theater's production of Broken Glass