My first love wasn't a guy or a girl. My first love didn't consist of sunsets and romantic gestures.
My first love destroyed me and I knew I would never be the same.
My first love was words.
"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper."
This is the final stanza of T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Hollow Men."
T.S. Eliot is by far my all time favorite poet. The first poem I ever read by him was "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and I loved every bit of it. I read that in high school and I knew that I had to keep reading his poetry. However, I can't particularly remember how I stumbled onto this poem. I don't remember how old I was or under what circumstance I was reading this poem. All I remember is that this poem completely changed me. I would highly recommend reading the entirety of the poem because it's so haunting. It will tear into your soul. Just what you want, I know. It still fills me with so much emotion that I forget how to breathe afterwards.
I didn't fall in love with the poem as a whole or with the meaning behind the poem. I simply fell in love with the words. This poem, these specific lines tore into my soul and enveloped me in the most devastatingly beautiful way. This poem made me realize how importance words really are. This poem became the reason why I do what I do.
Words are so important. We forget that sometimes. We forget how dangerous and beautiful words can be. Simple words can completely change your life. Yes, words are important because we need them to communicate but the way that words are presented, spoken, and written are a whole different level of communication. I fell in love with words like a haunting realization. It came upon as I read these words and I felt my entire body shatter under them. I became bewildered and awestruck by the way that these words made me feel. I became infatuated and I remain infatuated with words. How beautiful and how destructive they can be. These lines are not inspirational or motivating. I don't think they are meant to be. I think these lines were written in order for you to really feel something and oh boy I felt it all. That's what poetry does. It makes you feel things and you just sit there with your feelings, drowning.
We can't forget let ourselves forget how important words are. Whether it's what we say or what we write, we can't forget the power that our words hold. Your words can change someone's life. Your words can make someone fall in love and that is life changing. Don't ever think that your words don't matter. Your words matter.
Your words hold so much power to them that it can ignite something in people and push them forward to pursue something that they always wanted to. Don't use them frivolously and half-cocked. Your words resonates and you need to know that. Be loving with your words. Be kind and generous. Be real and be strong. The world needs your words. Someone out there needs to hear your words.
T.S. Eliot's words changed my life but you don't have to be a famous poet to accomplish that. I remember words unsaid and words spoken too easily. I remember I love yous and goodbyes. I remember feeling small or feeling big because of something someone said to me. Your words will carry. It had the ability to do so much good. Don't waste it. Be beautiful with your words and one day, it could make someone somewhere realize what they've been missing their entire lives. It could bring someone to an epiphanic realization of why they are doing what they are doing. You can breathe meaning into someone's life with simple words. Don't forget that. Don't waste it.
