Are you romantic? It is romantic, indeed.
There are countless reasons that make us speak of the Eternal City: love, faith, or simply the beauty of its magnificent heritage.
This text was born from a thought that crossed my mind as I walked through the Roman streets, where every monument seems to converse with the past.
(Until tomorrow, I will be posting from my phone. To those who receive the text in two languages, forgive me.)

Love

There is no greater love than the one that stands upright in clarity, at the edge of the fault line. To choose to remain in a boat that sways, to love the shadow of a soul not out of weakness nor with the wish to repaint it, but because even within the darkness that reveals itself without grace, the memory of a flawless white remains, impossible to detach from the one we have loved.

There is no greater love than the one we feel without needing it to be proven.
The love we keep singing even when all enchantment has faded.

I am not speaking of the attachment that imprisons, nor of the clumsy desire to suffer while pretending it is courage.
I speak of a clear love, a love that gives up neither lucidity nor joy.

There is no greater love than the one that sometimes sheds tears without turning them into an anthem.
A love that knows how to leave without betraying, a love that, though not always happy, still refuses to bow to the call of misfortune.

Oh, love.
Human love, strong and fallible.
How I cherish speaking of it.

Written by Aliane UMUTONIWASE