Mantra #4: Love
Two Without Becoming One
The sun rises above the river, bright and clear.
Gold light crosses the water and enters the garden through an open iron gate. Roses climb one wall. Tall grass shines beside the other. I step onto the gravel path. The morning holds room for every living thing.
I deserve love, and so do all the people around me.
I walk beneath an arbor woven with green leaves. Warm air moves across my face.
“I feel the love in my heart.”
My hand rests there for one quiet breath.
“I am kind to myself.”
“I give myself grace.”
Sunlight reaches each flower without asking it to resemble the next. Every color remains itself. Every stem turns toward the same light.
“The light in me recognizes the light in all other beings.”
At the next bend, you enter from the path beside the water. You carry your own rhythm. I carry mine. We reach the cedar gate together and continue side by side.
“We relax together and align perfectly.”
Our steps settle into an easy pattern over the gravel.
“We make the most beautiful music together.”
Birdsong rises from one side of the path. Wind moves through the reeds on the other. Our footsteps join them.
“We harmonize perfectly.”
“Our harmonies are transcendent.”
“Our frequencies resonate.”
The path opens into a garden planted in two wide beds. Lavender, rosemary, sunflowers, and young fruit trees grow with space around their roots. A narrow stone walk lies between them. Each bed receives water, light, and careful attention.
Love is a garden, and we care for our garden with diligence, respect, and the utmost affection.
Love grows where each of us has room to bloom.
We fill two watering cans from the same rain barrel. You tend the flowers nearest the old wall. I follow the row beside the path. We work within sight of each other, each responsible for the ground beneath our own feet.
When the soil darkens and the leaves lift, we set the cans beside the gate. At the center of the garden, two curved benches face a round pond. We sit with a small space between us. Sunlight moves across the water and reflects onto the arbor above.
“We are allowed to want this.”
The words that follow leave room for both of us to breathe.
“You don’t have to do, say, be, or think anything.”
“I’ll never try to change you.”
“I see you.”
“I love you.”
The warmth of the morning rests across my shoulders.
“I’ll always love you no matter what.”
We rise and return to the path. Ahead, it separates into two trails around a meadow. You take the trail near the wildflowers. I take the trail near the river. We remain within view of each other as both paths curve toward the same overlook.
“I am not responsible for other people’s thoughts, feelings, or emotions.”
The meadow gives each of us room for a whole inner life.
“That’s their stuff ~ not my stuff.”
My feet stay steady on my path. My breath stays easy in my body. My attention returns to the sunlit ground before me.
“My focus is my domain.”
The trails reach the overlook as two distinct lanes set into the stone. The river shines below. The garden glows behind us. Blue hills stand beyond the water.
“I see you.”
You stand in your own light.
“I see myself.”
I stand in mine.
“I see us.”
The two paths continue beside each other from the overlook. We walk into the bright morning as two whole lives, together.