one-sided

"Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life."

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."

—Buddha

She sits at the same table, shares the same bed,
but she is only half-heartedly here. She aches for
another who does not feel the same for her. Next to her,
another ache, a parallel ache, in her home, goes untended.

It is not the distance outside, but the emptiness within
that writes the lines of her story. Every second,
her mind journeys outside this home, or outside
this present moment, is a thief stealing the joy

from her, like friendly fire. The malnourished
hearth she didn't tend, so her husband must,
once again, kindle the fire to flame. But she can
— strike a match, stoke the embers, and fuel the blaze!