The Tenderness of a Heart

The summer I was seventeen, I met the boy who would light up my entire youth.

We walked beneath the streetlights after evening study, shared a pair of earphones, and promised each other forever.

But love in our youth was never as simple as just loving each other.

Misunderstandings, suspicion, family opposition, and the pressures of reality slowly wore away all our tenderness.

We went from sharing everything to having nothing to say, from being filled with joy to being hurt beyond recognition.

At last, at the crossroads of graduation, we said goodbye forever.

Only years later did I understand: some sparks of love, once kindled, bring a lifetime of heartache.

Some youth can only be spent missing what we lost, and remembering it.