The Opposite

I got to thinking today about if there truly is an opposite to real love. What immediately springs to mind is hate, but the more consideration I gave it, I found that it isn't so. Hate implies passion of some sort. It requires a certain level of fervor or enthusiasm at the very least. Hatred is like a Tiramisu that's been layered with anger, revulsion and abhorrence instead of custard, cake and cocoa powder. Who can even digest that? It makes me realize that I quite possibly have never hated anyone my entire life.

No, I think rather that the opposite of love is indifference. When people say that they could not care less...that is the coldest of storms to weather. I have been indifferent and I have had people treat me in the same manner. It hurts. There is barely anything comparable to it. It's akin to seeing roadkill in the middle of the highway. Sure, you may take notice just enough to avoid the despicable muck that would soil your tires, but essentially you go on about your way. No hard feelings, no love lost. There is a little more order to things because it has just become as simple as that. 'alittlemoreorder'. No visible break in the stride.

To be on the receiving end of such a thing is enough to leave you mystified. Virtually beside yourself, as if you are watching it happen to someone else. It burns, it's freezing, its numbing. It is downright sobering. You find yourself saying, 'Please. Share this burden of what happened to us because it was us and not just me. And now here I am alone without your sharing eyes.' But you aren't saying it to anyone but the ghost of what was. And you hang on to hear something familiar, some creak that alleviates the wicked modicums of time that have dragged over your head but you hear nothing. So you look away knowing that in the end, love will find a way. Indifference will always find an excuse. You hear nothing but a dirge for a moment's loss because it was not so long ago that you heard the very opposite. Composed accidentally while you were busy making memories.