Angel often walked to the sea near her house, the beauty of the place was equivalent to that of heaven, there was a waterfall that fell down with strength greater than love itself, trees were everywhere and birds lived on those trees, never fearing to be hunted. It was a place where Angel would forget things that were happening; remember things that once were. The sea was the only place where she could believe that incredible things were waiting for her, that some part of life still was to be lived, and that it wasn’t over. It was the place where she forgot how worn her (once pretty) face was, how worn her (once smooth and black) hair was, and even more than that, she would forget how worn her thoughts were now. The sea made every thing take birth all over again, fresh and anew.
Doves flew in the sky and then settled behind the clouds, like dreams. Angel kept gazing at them, as though in an attempt to find them but alas, she couldn’t. So she decided to picture them in her mind, lovely doves dancing on the clouds to express the joy that they felt after reaching the place beyond the sky, because the sky had never been the limit for them.
Angel’s dad, Mr.Rodridgues, a middle aged man, with shoulders so bent down that it seemed they carried on them a load heavier than lead, one that does not require to be seen by people, but the kind that imagination brings with it, he had a bald head with perhaps a scarce amount of hair and hazel nut coloured eyes that could always hide the pain living behind them, like a blue sea hiding the sadness that dwells beneath, sat there beside his daughter, torn between words. But silence has a way of making things settle down, and even more a way of waking the child who hides himself in the veil of your tears, and it gives the inner child the strength to finally speak. It gives one the strength to show his weakness.
And it did so, even to Angel’s father, he held his daughter’s hand and said, “My dear daughter, can you please finally forgive me for the evil I caused in your life?”
“Forgiveness,” Angel gave out a mocking laugh, “Do you know what forgiveness is dad? You can’t ask me for it when you don’t know the meaning hid behind this word and the amount of strength it takes.”
“I am sorry, my Angel but with time, love changes itself. What happened between your Mom and I was bound to happen one day, I gave her divorce because life had become painful. Life had come to the point where one has to hope for things to be lost and gone forever,” then he looked into Angel’s eyes and said, “You are my daughter, and now you are of the age where knowing things matters more than ignoring them. So it’s important for you to know about the Waterfall of Love, two people sail merrily for a long time on a ship, and then they eventually fall, and move on to different directions…different paths.”
“So its rest assured that the person who was with you on the ship survived to live after the fall?”
“Well, that’s what we all hope for, but we are too afraid to know, my love. Just like the Great Pakistani Poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz said, there are pains greater than love, there are joys greater than the joy of being with the one you love and how true it is.”
“If what he said really was true then please tell me of the greater joy and pain you found?”
Angel’s dad held her hand, closed his eyes, kissed the palm of her hands as though placing in it the secret of their love, so that it may be protected forever, looked into her deep brown eyes full of pain, her eyes were.Like that of a soldier who fights to save his blood but no matter what, he always sees the blood falling, like rain drops quenching the thirst of a few, and looking into them he said, “The one I see in your eyes.”
Then there was a moment of silence, both of them stared at the Dove landing on the sea and bathing herself with its water, it was the first time Angel had seen a Dove so closely. She saw that it was such a beautiful creature, with wings that looked exactly like the ones we picture an Angel with and eyes that had various dreams of love and peace locked in them, shining as though they were about to come true.
“Dad, do you see that Dove flying over there?” she sighed, “Isn’t she unexplainably beautiful?”
“She is, my Angel,” he paused, “She is.”
They looked at her in awe, when she gracefully moved her wings to dry them, and then began its journey disappearing into the void of the sky.
“Dad, you told me about the Waterfall of Love, may I also tell you about the Wings of Love?”
“Yes, my darling, I am all ears.”
“Well, did you see how when the Dove had soaked herself in the water, she actually had to dry herself in order to fly?”
“Who, my child, would lose the opportunity of seeing something so beautiful?”
“Well, you see, I believe that love has wings as well, that’s why in love a person is able to see dreams that lie above the sky, so what happens is that love just like our lives is never perfect. So a bad phase does come and the people do cry and then the numerous tears soak the Wings of Love so we are not able to fly, and when the Waterfall of Love comes we eventually fall,” another long moment of silence came and then they both began to cry, while looking at the sun going down to other people who needed him, and another Dove flew by, high above the waterfall, the trees and the skies.
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