Leftover love

What do you do with all the love that’s left when someone leaves?

You can’t give it to them anymore. But you also can’t throw it away, that’d be a waste. So then, what do you do?

If you’re into preserves, you can try putting it into jars and storing it in the pantry. The good thing about love is that it doesn’t really go bad. The bad thing, though, is that it’s, quite literally, infinite, so you’d need a pretty big pantry. Say you do have that, what use does love have stored in air tight jars? 

You can probably show off when you have people over. You can walk through every room, show them the way you decorated each one, and when you get to the pantry, half ashamed, you tell them you have so much love and you don’t really know what to do with it. Do they maybe want some? But they politely refuse, saying they have enough at home. You smile and say you understand, but you don’t, really. Is there such thing as enough, or too much love? 

They compliment your pantry though. It’s so big and just so neatly organised, they say. You smile. To keep so many jars must not be easy, they add. You say you can’t complain, but you’d really prefer to give some away. It’s not the space being full that bothers you, but the idea that it just stays there, probably as much wasted as if you’d have just poured it down the drain. But every time you ask someone if they want some, they all say the same thing, that somehow they have enough. What can you say to that? 

You can’t force anyone to get it, the same way you couldn’t just give it to those who left, when they were in such a hurry to go. You wanted to shout after them that they are forgetting things, but they were gone before you could open your mouth. And you were left there, with all this love pouring out and nowhere to go. Some was wasted, just went down the drain or spread into thin air. But you couldn’t do anything about it, it had to go out and you didn’t have a place to put it yet. Still don’t. The jars are full and the pantry doesn’t have any more space.

So, what do you do with all the love that you have left?