Epic of Eternity: Immortal Love

 Epic of Eternity: Immortal Love

—Arif Shams

Even in error, even in forgetting—

you cannot be erased.

Forgotten, yet never gone,

you remain beyond all forgetting.

Like a restless, graceful doe in flight,

your beauty runs beyond my reach.

A veiled moon-like face, a shard of pearl-lit smile,

crimson-tinted shy words, gently taking their place—

dark flowing hair, that innocent face,

and in your silent gaze, a depth that lingers unspoken.

In the quiet evenings of Ramadan, before the moment of breaking fast,

that farewell—an unbearable separation.

In lonely noons, in tender twilight, in silent nights—

my thirsty heart found a spring in you,

yet I was never destined to call you mine.

At times and untimely hours, with a hundred excuses,

I came close—softly, silently, with restrained grace.

My dearest beloved! Just once—to see you,

to ease the eternal conflict of fulfillment and longing.

I kept resolving the endless equation

of having and not having you,

through countless sleepless nights.

Yet deep within, I held an unshaken faith—

“If not today, one day you will be mine.”

But what storm shattered that fragile dream?

Who stole the nectar of my soul—and when?

This cruel, unfeeling world

does not understand love—only transactions.

In its chains of selfish design,

two living souls remain bound, unseen.

Not one—but two hearts, two spirits,

seeking union in silent resemblance, yet never meeting.

Unspoken pain, a quiet burning—

a burden carried through a lifetime,

wandering through the valley of death.

What was my crime—

that I dared to love?

I did not merely love her—

I love her still, like a madman,

beyond all reason, beyond all restraint.

Not before, not after—nor within any limited time,

this love transcends all boundaries of time itself.

Dreams of a future life, hopes, desires, tender longings—

all dissolve into this immortal love.

An epic written across eternity,

a silent journey of everlasting devotion.

This love is an elixir—yet a slow-consuming fire;

it sustains me, even as it consumes me.

Memories—green, yellow, and pale white leaves—

walk beside me as companions,

a quiet melody of sorrow and separation.

Losing myself unknowingly,

only to find myself again within that loss—

this is a rare and gentle illusion.

Even when I try to escape,

I cannot.

At the confluence of enchantment,

this pure, eternal love—

an extraordinary spell of devotion.

Who would ever wish

to lose such a sacred pain?