Tower and Town, November 2022

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Bittersweet - A Perspective Of lLve

I do not think there is any need for me to introduce myself. You will know me, or you have known me, and I certainly know you. 

When you first feel me, you may not know who I am. But I will gradually, gradually, crawl inside a space in your head. Many people think I operate in the heart. Of course, they are wrong. The heart is just an organ; a machine, pumping blood through your veins. No, I work in your mind. I crawl into every spare place, every nook and cranny, until you are infatuated with me.  

My first stop today is the lonely old man who lives a few doors down from you. He’s rather forgetful, but, most of all, alone. I always sense loneliness. It throbs through me like your blood in your veins. I reach into his thoughts and place into him memories of his old friend who lives downstairs. He smiles, forgetting his loneliness, and creaks painfully down the stairs to go and talk to her again. Love makes the mind do funny things.  

I want to stay and laugh at the funny couple, but a darkness flashes into my mind. The first broken love of today. It is a dirty house, an unfed dog lying panting outside. Through the window, a woman is lying on the filthy floor, blood oozing out of a gash in her head. A man, drunken and messy, stumbles out of the front door. Her blood on his hands. He is muttering something angry under his breath. 

I push through the wall and see by her head a small black ball. My broken love. I pick it up, and cradle it with my hands, before rootling through her mind. Abuse. Guilt. Hatred and a loneliness that fills her mind like a dark pool. I place the broken love in my pocket and leave.  

On the way out, Death appears. I murmur. “He deserved to see you today.” 

“Perhaps he will,” Death smiles knowingly. “Perhaps not. Not everyone gets what they deserve, Love. You of all people know that.” 

My next stop is a school yard. A young boy and an innocent girl. They are fifteen, impressionable and straightforward. The girl is laughing with her friends, the boy watching her and blushing a little. I smile. A sweet, young love. This one is easy. I place a bright ball in his mind, which slowly starts to grow. True, pure love.  

I stop next outside a hospital. I have visited here many times before. Mothers smile down at wailing infants. A strong, forever bond. I conjure up hundreds of balls and watch them expand in each person’s mind. It’s beautiful.  

The trenches are muddy and stinking. Not much room for me here. A young man smiles at his friend and blushes as I place a bright love in his mind. I will have to come and collect it soon enough. 

I stay for a while, watching them tease and jostle, laughing and hiding their fears under masks, bright facades of happiness. 

LH Year 10