Human relationships can be difficult, and our love lives can be messy and intangible.

Sometimes to alleviate the discomfort of not being able to make sense of an experience, we become black and white. But what if we didn’t have to look for closure, or book-end our experiences?

What if all romantic encounters were star-crossed? What if “happily ever after” meant making peace with the past?

~
After I Saw You

After I saw you
I went home
and meditated on magic.
I sat in the dark
and let my heart
dart back through the years,
tracing curves, and twists and swerves
that led to now,
and how we each took a different direction
That fed us right back
into connection.

After I saw you
I went home
And meditated on love.
I sat in the dark
and let my heart
expand so much
it broke apart.
Seeing you there
I was so surprised
I could have cried
and I think I did
but I hid it from you.

My body was trembling
while my heart was remembering
and my mind was assembling
the things you say
when just there’s no way
to convey
what you feel
when you get what you need
to help you heal.

After I saw you
I went home
and meditated on gratitude.
And I have to hand it to
the Powers who knew
just whose face
would help replace
struggle with grace.

After I saw you
I went home with faith restored
The past unmoored
And a sense of knowing
it’s time to move forward.
It’s time.
It’s time.

~

The poem comes from Dharma Comics creator, Leah Pearlman, and has been interpreted into a this beautiful short film below by director Yolanda Barker. Together they tell a story about love, letting go, and the possibility that our lives are journeys and that every experience is part of a process.

What if all love stories were “meant to be”?

~

~

Relephant Read:

Love Tells us We’re Everything. {Dharma Comics}

~

Authors: Leah Pearlman & Yolanda Barker

Editor: Renee Jahnke

Image: Courtesy of Dharma Comics