..her own restless coveting of his love and the slow but sure ebullience of her desire for him; then the Nawab's martydom and her spiritual homelessness and physical loneliness; there was so much, so many portraits and landscapes, like the bright pages of an album of words and pictures. They filled her heart overflowing with the tangy, coppery taste of blood that flows from failure, and pricked her soul with nostalgia, for what was and what could have been. She had never thought that happy memories could come accompanied with so much regret, so much pain, so much repining, and discontent. If you plucked a rose without due care, its thorn pricked you to protest the thoughtlessness and the inconsiderateness you had displayed in taking away its crowning glory. Here, it was nothing else but the rose which was the thorn: its each and every petal was saturated with the scents of the past but it stung like the scorpion plant. But was it possible not to touch those memories? For their scents traveled in and out of your being like breath, and their colours were inside every blink of your eye. Shamsur Rahman Faruqi
About This Quote

The first quote comes from the end of the first part of The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. The second one is from a story called “The Rose Without Thorns” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Both quotes capture beautifully how memories can connect you with those you have lost. While the loss of a loved one is very difficult, remembering their past and an appreciation of what they had to offer is a great way to cope with their death.

Source: The Mirror Of Beauty

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