Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Maktub - Part 3


“I’m going away”, he said. “And I want you to know that I’m coming back. I love you because…”

“Don’t say anything”, Fatima interrupted. “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving”.

But the boy continued, “I had a dream, and I met with a king. I sold crystal and crossed the desert. And, because the tribes declared war, I went to the well, seeking the Alchemist. So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you”.

“I’ll be back”, the boy said.

“Before this, I always looked to the desert with longing”, said Fatima. “Now it will be with hope”.

“You’re crying?”

“I’m a woman of the desert”, she said, averting her face. “But above all, I’m a woman”.

Fatima went back to her tent, and, when daylight came, she went out to do the chores she had done for years. But everything had changed. The boy was no longer at the oasis, and the oasis would never again have the same meaning it had had only yesterday. It would no longer be a place with 50,000 palm trees and 3,000 wells, where the pilgrims arrived, relieved at the end of their long journeys. From that day on, the oasis would be an empty place for her.

From that day on, it was the desert that would be important. She would look to it every day, and would try to guess which stars the boy was following in search of his treasure. She would have to send her kisses on the wind, hoping that the wind would touch the boy’s face, and would tell him that she was alive. That she was waiting for him, a woman awaiting a courageous man in search of his treasure.

From that day on, the desert would represent only one thing to her: the hope for his return.

~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist, Page 121 – 123

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