virginian stock

love, like the sun and the night, was always there in our lives. amorous glances, butterfly kisses, tender handshakes, an occasional hug, furtive walks down the fieldside...many a pleasurable moment as we laughed together and cried together. to me, he was the only one. and we lost no moment in love.

we lived past those times of apathy and illwill, when man hated man, when war was at the doorstep and peace knelt low. escaping ourselves of all that held between us, bringing us closer as the world around us distanced itself, only till i bore my child.

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virginian stock. i remember them. i remember their smells too. how could i forget that night. that night, those flowers and us. soft whispers from streaming lives from the earth below. the scents that wafted from those flowers threatening us for a brief moment. indeed, i remember them all. when all seemingly bright things evanesced under the setting sun, his eyes glistened, oblivious to all things around us. i remember how stealthily he waded through those dark waters, when the rest of the town slept, dreaming of virginian stock and hate.

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growing up never came easy to him. it could never have been. neighborhood fraught with ill-speaking mouths - hags who rail and pass their time, reviling postmen, betel-nut vendors who spat bitterness as they bicycled past his home, mothers who forbade their sons to play with him. the ever-growing enmity grew in him like a bloody cancer. he hated those who hated him. hatred like love, grows.

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the poison the townsfolk fed had been numbing his senses. i could see it. my touch made no difference to him. paralyzed, ready to brush with his end, he drew a deep breath, suspiring of all the disgrace he lived through all these years. those still eyes looked at me, never to move again.

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