The world didn't end in a bang. Or a blow. It was one scream at a time. "Till death do us part", they had sworn, while being aloof from everybody else. Under the gleam of the red full moon, they made love. A glimpse of what heaven looked like. But it all flashed before their eyes for they had their tribes to lead. For they had their wars to fight. And their fight was against each other, for love- was forbidden. Love, if seen, was slashed out, cut, and torn into pieces like a dry rose. They didn't care if that was murder or if it had life. If the flower still had completely bloomed or not. "RULES ARE RULES!" they screamed.
"I was never born to live by the rules." She said. She tore down the rules, broke through the barriers of 'do-nots' and held her head high, saying - I know how to love. And that's the biggest rule one should have. She roamed around, begged the people, cried and said the world is nothing without love. It came from nothing and it will become nothing, but what do we get if we don't love? What is our life without love? Love is what brings light, love is what fills one up in times of despair. Learn how to love, you humans- learn how to love, she said.
But did anyone pay heed? Did anyone listen to it? Or were they too busy in the chaos of their own lives to care? Laws, and rules, and regulations were brought up time and again, only to be broken by that one soul that was broken one too many times to care. That broken soul would go around like a raging phoenix and shout out, "Love is what will bring peace, bring forth love." But nobody paid heed. Nobody took the time to care. They said they cared but really, nobody did. Nobody spread love, only made more rules and regulations and laws.
But when she found the one- the one soul she knew she could trust, she gave it all in. She gave all her hopes, her trust, her love, and her life- devoted it to him, just so that they could live, and love. Just so that they could show the rest of the world that hate was not an option, only- and only, love was.
But not every shimmer shows the daylight. Not every glitter renders gold. But she was too stubborn to understand. Or maybe she wasn't? Maybe all she was, was a little too expectant from love? Maybe she just wanted to bring forth the eternal bliss of love that humankind was yet to experience. And really, maybe the bliss was right after the veil of human problems, turmoils, and crises? She didn't know how much of her belief was true but she still believed in it. Wholeheartedly. Because she knew that was what kept her alive. But she didn't know that the lamp that once lit her garden for years, would blow out in the wind so soon. She didn't realise that the world that she was in, was unapproving of anything breaking the law- and the law was something only they had control over. Only they could make it and they could break it. But she didn't give up. If it was death they asked for, she would give them that. She was determined. For she chose love over anything.
It was as if she walked to the gallows herself in a gleaming red gown. Her jewels seemed like chains around her neck. Her bangles looked like handcuffs, while she walked down like a prisoner, whose fate was in the hands of the powerful. But she knew how to snatch it back. No matter how much they would clip her wings and claw her back, she knew how to stand up… until she couldn't anymore. Until the last bit of blood was drawn from her body for believing in the sin called "love". Until she couldn't breathe anymore, to even say, "till death do us part, love."
But tell me really, does the tale end there? Because we wouldn't have been here if it wasn't for love. Love doesn't die. It reincarnates with the person. It travels far and wide, and says, "learn how to love, you poor souls. Learn how to love."
So she came again, bearing her past with her. The same past that would haunt her until she found herself- until she found her love. But it was a tiring journey. Just like the moon needs to go through a phase of darkness to find herself bit by bit, she had to do the same. She tried, she tried hard. But it was tiring. She would cry every night, and write to herself in a fiery tone. She would say-
I float through the eternal abyss every night, questioning myself. My mind reels and my heart races. Bits and pieces of broken mirrors float around as well, some of them dig deep into my skin, while some of them hold themselves right in front of my face. They ask me- "Poor thing- would you care to look at yourself? Who are you?" I look into the shard and smile. "I don't know yet."
Am I really supposed to know it all? Why so, if Socrates, Pluto, and Aristotle gave up their whole life to their art? If they could cover themselves up in wrinkles of old age and still die with unanswered questions, then why do I have to have all the answers?
"Because you are not them.", The Shards speak up in unison. "You are nothing but a mere part of nature- susceptible to its brutality. Tell us- what can you even do? What superpower do you own? Can you overpower the sentences of the Oracle, and shout out loud- YES, I am different! What are you gon' do about it?!"
"Maybe not," I say. "But I can for sure acknowledge myself. I can for sure acknowledge the love that is within me."
The little smile that formed on my dry lips slowly faded away, as they screamed, "You are a disgrace! What a shame! There isn't anything to think about. Look into the mirror and you are what you see."
The words penetrated my soul, rather than my ears, or my brain. It hurt. Did I even belong? Where do I belong, if not here? Why do the words stab my soul every time I think of it? Or is it just me? My kin says I'm too dramatic- sometimes even crazy. They call me a lunatic when I try to express myself. They laugh at me when I tap into love to express my soul's desire, they snarl at me when I try to speak. They cuff my hands and clip my feet and make me go silent. But... What about me? The 'real me'?
"The 'real you'? There's no such thing as the real you. It's all that you see in the mirror- it's all that you see on the outside. So now, would you care to look into the mirror? What do you see?" They say.
"Well," I say. "Do you really want to know what I see? What do I feel? How deep the song of freedom creeps into my heart?"
My voice echoed everywhere. In every atrium and valves, and aorta. There was silence, which was soon followed by an uproar. An uproar from all the broken pieces of me. The pieces of me that they broke every day, like the millions of mirror shards in my heart. They kicked me, punched me, stabbed me in the back. And in turn, I kept shattering the mirrors. The mirrors in my heart that once spoke of love and kindness, were shattered into thousands of shiny shards, and as they float through the darkness of my heart, they feel confused. Why were they being broken? Why were they being attacked when they did nothing wrong but only reflected what was in front of them? They grew vicious. Their disappointment made them stern and now when they speak to me, they speak to me in a tone that I am very familiar with. It's the same tone that my kin use with me. It's the same tone that people use when they call me a disappointment, or a failure, or a psychotic person. It's the tone of hatred. And I take it all. But do they understand? Do they care when I get thrown and misused and broken? All they do is come up to me and say, "Well would you care to look at the mirror today? Don't you think you should look a little more manly? A little less feminine? Don't you think the clothes are too tight? Too short? The colors are too vibrant. Take them off." And that's why I break the mirrors in turn. I make them feel what I feel. I make them realize that as long as they don't see me the way I do, they will get broken. As long as they don't learn how to love, and how to accept, they won't live. The hatred that they spew everywhere, affects me only a bit, for it only leads me to break the mirror and break the image it holds of me. It makes me want to emerge as something new. Something powerful. Tear the sky like the Phoenix and win the world up above.
And if I am being honest, I know the tone of hatred a little too much to be affected by it anymore. When the shards sternly come up to my face every night and ask me about my identity, I remain calm. I remain respectful, and kind, unlike the others. And I say, "I am me. I'm a free soul that you're trying to trap in a little magic lamp, and chop off my wings and tie my feet. I'm a free soul, that you're trying to use however you want, rub the magic lamp to summon the genie. But I'm that free bird in the sky that roars in the language of freedom and soars so high up in the sky that even the heavens pave the way for its smooth flight. I am, what the new age calls for- I am what love makes me. And I am a being of love. You really cannot clamp me up in a shell and expect me to live the way you want me to live. And every time you try, I WILL break you even more. So that you remember that you are only a reflection of me. So the more I break, the more you break. What's the use of a mirror if it only raises the dust of confusion and chaos? What's the use of a mirror if it only accepts what has been made law by such a society that doesn't care about its people? I do not accept it. And neither will I let my mirror reflect such an image of me, that's not me."
The shards go quiet and submerge themselves in the all-consuming void in my heart. No. They don't vanish forever. They come up now and then, to ask me if I've changed my mind. If the lipstick color that doesn't suit me well anymore, made me want to change myself. Or if my choice of clothing, made me want to feel a bit more feminine. All about outer appearance, they are. Nothing about the inner love. But the truth is, I feel it all. Every day. Every moment. I am, in every sense, the rainbow that makes people look at it in awe. They don't understand why it's there or what is the reason behind its creation, but they feel love in its presence. They feel empowered. And that's all I want. Love and acceptance. Take me by me- and by my love. And when they don't, I unleash my fire and burn them down.
I am the power of nature. I am free-flowing like a river, patient like a tree. Fragrant as a flower, and as huge as the sky. I have no limits, so you cannot bind me down. My place is up above, way higher than what you thought. I have a purpose, and that is to spread love. So no matter how much you break me, I remain calm. I only break my mirrors in return, as it makes me feel my strength. The power of not having to look at a mirror and fixate on an identity would forever be my freedom."
And that's how she roars out to the world and says until and unless she finds love… true love- the one that she can hold on to for the next eternity, she will soar up and tear the sky down every night - make blood rain fall from the sky and purify the hearts of the beasts living underneath.
"Moon signifies the love and compassion that exists within humans. The simple belief that love exists in mankind, can make us want to live our lives more fully. And it is from this belief that we get to learn more and grow together, without judging anyone for it.
Dione, on the other hand, not only signifies kindness, but also the courage that lies within. Sometimes, all we humans need is the courage to keep fighting for the one thing we believe in. And most of the times, we go searching for that courage in the outer world when really, it's within our hearts."