The Weight of Shared Gazes. 32

A candle flickers—
Shadows waver in silence—
Eyes hold what words hide.

There is always someone watching. Between your face and mine, there is a space occupied by unseen eyes. They belong to those we have loved and lost, to those who came before us, and those we wish we could forget. Ghosts of old affections, remnants of past hands that once traced the same lines on our skin. Love, even in its most intimate form, is never untouched by history. It carries weight—not just of its own making but of all that preceded it.

The Burden of the Past

We sit at a table too crowded with memories. The woman you once whispered secrets to, the men who stood in the spaces I now occupy—they do not leave just because we do not speak their names. They are here, lingering in the silence, folded into the corners of our glances. The past is not something we escape from; it is something we learn to dine with. We raise our glasses to new beginnings, but in their depths, we still see the shadows of what was.

It is an unspoken rule—we do not ask about the ghosts at the table. We pretend our hands are steady, that our voices do not tremble when an old name is accidentally spoken. But beneath it all, we know the truth: we are never truly alone in love. The past always asks for a seat.

Love and Its Unseen Witnesses

Love does not exist in isolation. It is shaped by the ones who have loved us before, by the ones who taught us tenderness and the ones who left us wounded. We inherit gestures, echoes of past affections, the residue of lessons learned too late. And yet, we long to be new in love, to believe that what we share is untouched, untainted.

But even in this, there is beauty. To carry the past is not a weakness; it is proof that we have lived. Love does not erase history; it weaves it into something else, something fuller. We are not the first to sit at this table, nor will we be the last. The flickering light of shared moments casts long shadows, but even in those shadows, there is warmth.

1. Acknowledge the Ghosts – The past does not disappear; it lingers in the spaces between us. Acknowledge it, but do not let it rule the present.
2. Do Not Compare – Love is not measured by what came before. Each love is its own universe, unfolding in ways unknown to the past.
3. Let Go of Guilt – We are shaped by those we once loved, but we are not bound by them. Guilt only keeps the door open to what should be left behind.
4. Trust in What is Now – The past may whisper, but the present is the only thing we can truly hold. Love for what it is, not for what it must outshine.
5. Embrace the Imperfect – Love will always come with echoes of the past, with cracks and scars. But that is what makes it real—what makes it ours.

As we sit here, our hands close but not touching, I wonder how many others have done the same. How many have held their breath in the face of old wounds, how many have whispered reassurances to themselves that the past is only a shadow? The candle burns lower, its flame steady despite the drafts of memory that swirl around us. And as I look into your eyes, I see not just what has been, but what is still possible.

Not all ghosts are meant to haunt. Some are simply here to remind us of how much we have survived—and how much more we have yet to love.