Looking back on it all now, it’s miraculous to ponder how time, how all of those missing years, have guided our drifting hearts back toward home once more.

Fate tore our souls apart and dragged us through the depths of hell, so that one day we might fully embrace what true, abiding love really means.

Donning many masks over those turbulent seasons challenged us to recognize and embrace the origins of our true natures, hidden safely away in our lonesome hearts. Braving each impassable storm—weathering, withering and stripping away false identities and lost hopes to reveal that inner-brilliance trying to shine through.

We were close to, but ever-distant from any chance that our longing hearts, defiant minds and persistent bodies might finally intertwine someday.

I would think about you often, imagining what it might feel like if our lips touched for the first time. I’ve wanted you so badly, despite knowing that your fate would lead you wherever the universe deemed necessary, as would mine.

It took every ounce of stamina within me to let go and allow nature to conspire her miracles.

Continually accepting that you may always remain just beyond my threshold, it became increasingly difficult to hide my feelings, and so one day I finally confessed. Months passed by after that, without us sharing a single word, painfully swallowing the reality that perhaps we were never meant to unite in this life after all.

Out of nowhere, you gestured—piercing my heart with a sudden plea. You were seeking connection with someone who related to your own longings, loneliness and insatiable desire to run free—burning so vividly, blinding and serene. It seemed ever-so unlikely, impossible even, but now it feels like we have a genuine chance at foretelling this lovestruck fantasy.

Here we stand—vulnerable, naked and open to whatever potential an eternal bond such as this has in store for two wandering souls. Trusting secretly, confiding in spirit that this soulmate union would eventually transpire—that we could truly outlast these tireless years apart.

Perhaps we were fated to meet now, after everything we’ve each endured, so we could appreciate what it means to embrace that dear friendship and deeper connection—germinating over time, amidst the wide-open expanse between us, in hopes this would eventually bloom into something exceedingly beautiful, something mutually recognizable, someday.

After stumbling through so much of our lives, realizing just how uncertain it can be, we seek, sometimes desperately, for that momentary solace. A place within someone’s heart where we never have to question whether we are safe to speak in confidence—where our inner turmoil is met with serene understanding, compassion and guarded sanctity. A space where we are set free.

You’re the one woman who has walked into my life who I’d change course for in a moment’s notice. Somehow it seems that our hearts did just that, despite the incredible odds overwhelming us for far too long. Many mountain ranges and valleys may separate us physically, but this dance began when we were merely children. Growing up so near each other, yet never having had the fated opportunity to meet before now.

In light of this reunion, I realize that I’ve always left the gate open in case you ever decided to meet me halfway, bridging the unknown divide together. Let us cultivate a garden—tilling the fertile soils of our ancient history, sowing a fruitful life, shed from tears of joyous relief and belly laughter that inspires the sun to shine on all of our darkness. Warming the past’s stormy, now still spaces where only shade once dwelled.

Separated by time. Patiently embracing the temperance and foregoings of spirit. Outlasting a seeming eternity. Blessed by this splendid union’s divine timing. Two lovers—the surreal mating of souls, shifting the tides. A match-made synchronicity.

There is pure wildness within us that will never be tamed. Neither you nor I can be held captive and are both lucidly aware, that we are eternally free.

So, shall we meet once more, in the wilderness of our dreams, where nature originally forged each half of this fatefully led, heart-sought, timeless love story and abiding mystery?

Author: Thayne Ulschmid

Image: NataliaDrepina/DeviantArt

Editor: Emily Bartran