The Contempt of Familiarity

By Sumaiyya

Humans, the conundrum that we are, Our love both shallow and oceans deep, At once, our hate so intensely beautiful and cruel all at once, so wonderful confusing in our complexity.

All it takes is one word to slip Out of a particular pair of loved lips, To light a spark to a fire, so warm, So beguiling, so reminiscent of home, but How long can a fire burn?

What happens when the fuel runs dry

Or when the sparks run out, what happens When tears have trickled enough to put Out an entire bonfire of love?

All it takes is one word to slip Out of a particular pair of loved lips, Like a sudden torrent of rain On a cheerfully bright fire of love To incite resent, pain, hatred To break a heart.

They say, familiarity breeds Contempt, there's a thin line Between love and hate, they say Ignorance is bliss, the less we know,

The better Why does the complexity of Human nature scare us?

Why are we frightened by the Multi faceted aspects of those Around us, but we want it from Fictional characters? Why is It so hard to keep loving Someone?

We yearn so deep, so truly For a home, for a person, for a Love That will save, nourish, guide us But we shy from familiarity, At the thought of the ideal Person in our heads, being Human.

The way we know someone makes Us hate their every breath, these are The ones we pledge to love, whole Heartedly, till death and further beyond Are those we resent, with every fibre Of our beings, we resent the facade They act out, the very facade that Lured us in.

We promise to love them till Infinity, But we can not love them past Our insanity Their sins, not too far from our Own, irk us to the point of godliness That teeters on the brink of Hell, heaven having left A familiarity ago.

We build ourselves a world filled With the fear of intimacy, of Commitment, we train ourselves

To be afraid of the very thing That makes us human, Love.

Is this why we so often Hate ourselves? We know Ourselves so deeply, so intricately That we begin to feel contempt Instead of awe and respect, Is this why our flaws and cracks Stand out so jarring, that our Strengths are smothered by it?

If I showed you my flaws, if I showed you familiarity, if I Let you feel the cracks that Decorate my soul, Would you stay, would you Cherish it, or would you Leave, breaking me like I Broke someone else?

Familiarity breeds Contempt, they say, Is this why no one will ever stay?

Is this why everyone I love, walks away? Is this why, to self hate, I am prey?

Is there no respite to this madness That human nature is? Will I never Love someone for all that they are? Worse, will I never be loved beyond The contempt of familiarity?

By Sumaiyya