Of Curtains and The World Beyond

Thoughts on the Purchase of Window Drapes

Not my window nor my curtains, but definitely my world beyond.

To My Gorgeous Sara,

I bought curtains today. I’m not exactly sure why I did but all I know is that they’re hanging from my windows, filtering the city lights as they flicker out with the night. That’s what they’re there for, right? To keep the night out. Or is it to keep me in?

I bought curtains today. Outside, in the world beyond, madmen raised hell and took lives. Blood flowed and screams rent the air. Bullets and Fire, Projectiles and debris, all stole lives. Some lives I knew, Moments shared in corridors. Vague hellos shared in passing. Now to be shared no more. Smiles vanished. Lives lost. And here I sit, staring at my new curtains. A little numb, A little worried. Trying desperately to remind myself that the wheels move on. Perhaps that’s why I bought them. To take some control of this chaos called life. To insert some pattern into this randomness. To grab a piece of the storm and call it mine before the curtain closes.

I bought curtains today. Perhaps it is to insert some notion of permanence into my life. We moved a lot when I was young, you see. And that wanderlust has always been a part of me. I feel no need to own a space because I never know how long I am in it. Therefore I adorn it with temporariness; A patchwork of the past, the present and the hopes of the future. Is that what these curtains are here for? To remind me that I can sit still in so small a space? To show me that I still have a hand in my surroundings? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

I bought curtains today. Maybe I acquired them to hide behind. To provide opaqueness between the world beyond and mine. To build walls between the transparent windows and the space within. And in both the metaphoric and literal sense, they do their job well.

I bought curtains today. Maybe it is all about vanity. Maybe that is what I am hiding behind the curtains of profound metaphor and deep thought. Could it be I just wanted a better-looking room? And that all this talk of ownership and permanence is all hogwash to adorn the pile with glitter? it could be. It definitely is part of the reason, but is it the whole reason? Should an owned space not look good? Hmmm… Is that justification I sense in that statement?

I bought curtains today. I do not exactly know why, but just like the curtains, I need to pull myself together. So as the night grows cold, Sweet Sara, I glance at the world beyond, draw them, and wish you a good night.

Yours, Always, Lawrence

PS: All this talk about curtains and not one “man behind the curtain joke”? You must be disappointed. Ciao.

#Curtains #Love #Metaphor #Pondering