On Solitude

"We do not know what to do with one of our most precious resources, solitude, and so we fill it with noise and clutter..."
(The Solitude of Emperors, by David Davidar)

It's a very good book, and I'm only halfway through... But anyway, the sentence reminded me of a conversation with a friend 4 years back, in which me, in blessed ignorance, said I'm not sure I could share my life with someone since I love my solitude too much. He replied, "Well then, you'll just have to get someone with whom you can share that solitude.." I kinda thought, "Hmm.. ...profound.." (it's expected from that friend, though ;p ) and the remark stuck with me not because I thought it's true, but because of how poetic the sentence sounded..hahaha...

Well...but I've just recently gotten a glimpse of how a "sharing of solitude" could be.. Quite an experience,indeed...hm..to just sit beside someone and enjoy the moment, without any urge to say something, without a million things going through your mind, just the wind brushing through your hair, and an assurance that the other person doesn't need you to say or do anything at all..

Weird but wonderful...feeling that I have my own personal space, my shell, my own world in which I'm secure... yet I'm sharing that space with someone else, and doesn't feel the slightest bit invaded....And the silence that passed, though prolonged, wasn't the kind of awkward silence that you'd want to break by making casual remarks...It was a comfortable silence, a companionable silence.. the kind that you'd settle into with ease and loath to let go... Thinking, "Just a while more... I want to prolong this moment a little bit more...."

"The words the happy say are paltry melody, but those the silent feel are beautiful." , thus saith Emily Dickinson....
....and if silence alone is beautiful, even more is silence savoured together...