1
There’s magic and metaphors in music superior to any other art form. An exquisite alchemy is involved in mixing pieces of your self and soul into the precisely perfect blend of harmonies, melodies, and lyrics that strike a chord.A.J. Compton
2
Sometimes absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder. Sometimes it just makes the heart hurt.A.J. Compton
3
Our eyes are closed, but even without seeing, they’re only for each other.A.J. Compton
4
I would lose him a thousand lifetimes over if it meant I got the chance to love him a thousand times. And have him love me back. If only for a little while.A.J. Compton
5
Learning takes a lifetime and even the geniuses among us die ignorant. You should always want to learn, to grow, to improve. Otherwise what’s the point? You may as well just give up and die. There’s always new things to see, people to meet, lessons to learn. Life is both a classroom and a teacher. We’ll always be the students, never the professors.A.J. Compton
6
Grief is always amplified in silence.A.J. Compton
7
I was only able to move forward once I let go of my fear of leaving him behind.A.J. Compton
8
Let me be the type man who plants a field of flowers so you can be the type of woman who picks them.A.J. Compton
9
A memory is never as good as a moment.A.J. Compton
10
We live and learn, change and grow. Older, but not always wiser. Stronger but not necessarily smarter. Life is a dance of steps taken forward and backwards, time spent standing still, and twirling in circles as we follow our own shadows.A.J. Compton
11
Things can’t mend without being broken.A.J. Compton
12
All great adventures start with an idea.A.J. Compton
13
I'm a poet who has lost his words." He looks across the street, but not before I catch the dull glint of shame in his eyes." Where did you lose them?" I ask, gentling my tone. He turns back to me. When he speaks, his voice is so small that I have to lean closer to hear it. "The same place I lost myself.A.J. Compton
14
I try not to react, but I must fail because Gabriel turns to look at me. “The world needs both butterflies and lions. One is not better than the other. They're both beautiful and brave in their own ways.” His hand covers mine as it fiddles with the blades of grass. “Ava.” I look up. “I do not wish you were a lion any more than I would have wished her to be a butterfly.A.J. Compton
15
Legacies are not just for legends. Whether a million people know your name, or only one person does, you still have the right to leave your mark on the world, even if it’s only in your tiny corner of it, in the tiniest of ways. Not all of us will achieve great heights and feats. Most of us will never leave our hometown or country, let alone conquer Everest. And you know what? That’s okay. Because real life is what happens in between moments of greatness. It’s the little things that at the end of it all, you realize were greater than the sum of their parts. It’s the amount of times you laughed, or cried, danced, sang, created, inspired, and made someone smile. The best kind of legacies are the ones that are unseen. You’ll never fully be able to measure the effect of a smile or a kind word, but I promise you, the most whispered phrase can send a shockwave around the world that lasts for centuries, or even an eternity. .A.J. Compton
16
This is one of those moments when I wish I could be young forever. Not just stop time for a second, but for an eternity. The old paradox that youth is wasted on the young is not true for us. Neither I nor my friends take our youth for granted. In fact, all of the young people I know are all too aware that someday soon time and gravity won’t be on their side anymore. And there’s nothing we can do about it. So the young do the only thing they can do. They live and they love and they dance and they sing, they dream and they scheme, they ponder and they plan. Like there’s no tomorrow. For tomorrow brings us one day closer to the inevitable and one day further from the impossible. And being young is all about achieving the impossible. Or at least believing you can. The old mistake our denial for ignorance, our immaturity for irresponsibility. We understand the rules of life, we just don’t want to play by them. Not yet. Not today. Not tonight. Because tonight is a good night to be young and alive.A.J. Compton
17
Drowning in the majesty of the constellations is a reminder that the universe was here long before us, and it will be here long after we’re gone. When our bones become nothing but ash and earth, the world will keep on spinning. People will die, cry, love, and live as if we never were. But we are now. And that’s all that matters. In this moment, we are. Nothing but a boy and a girl. On the cusp of something greater than ourselves. Entering into the unknown and hoping we make it out the other side. With a strong sense of ourselves and only a faint idea of who we want to be. We are what we are. And we. are. now. Young, free, alive. Here, together, loved. .A.J. Compton
18
Being young is all about achieving the impossible. Or at least believing you can. The old mistake our denial for ignorance, our immaturity for irresponsibility. We understand the rules of life, we just don’t want to play by them. Not yet. Not today. Not tonight. Because tonight is a good night to be young and alive.A.J. Compton
19
We kiss with our eyes closed but our senses open, infusing the spaces between with the elements of the other.A.J. Compton
20
And suddenly I realize that all those books and movies had gotten it wrong. When you find your souls reflection in another, you shouldn’t be aware of anything other than their body, yours, and the space between. You shouldn’t be looking for someone whose kiss causes you to escape reality by transporting you to another time and place. Look for the person whose kiss grounds you firmly in the moment, whose arms hold you safely in the now. .A.J. Compton
21
We are forever changed, forever united. From almost-us to always us. We kiss with our eyes closed but our senses open, infusing the spaces between with the elements of the other.A.J. Compton
22
We’ve gotten to that stage all soulmates reach of speaking in broken phrases and incomplete sentences, our connected and all-knowing minds filling in the blanks left by redundant words.A.J. Compton
23
Although we try to control it in a million different ways, the only things you can ever really do to time are enjoy it, or waste it. That’s it.A.J. Compton
24
I’m a feeler. I feel everything deep within my core. Even when I don’t want to. I don’t know where my emotions stop and my empathy begins. I feel from the tips of my toes to the follicles of my head. I feel with every fiber, every molecule, every tissue, marrow, muscle, and bone in my body. I feel.A.J. Compton
25
Adequate photographers use their sight, good photographers use their senses, and great photographers use their souls.A.J. Compton
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There are two types of women. The ones who wait to receive flowers and the ones who go out and pick them.A.J. Compton
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I will fight death for my right to live until my last breath.A.J. Compton
28
Nobody sees me like you do, and without you, I’ll be invisible. I exist because you see me.A.J. Compton