"If you come too quickly,

my longing bears no fruit.

If you stay too long,

it ripens past sweetness."

Longing has a season

even divinity

cannot rush.

Two yearnings—

one from each soul—

meeting exactly

where neither

arrived first

nor waited too long.

That's not romance.

That's the only timing

that ever lets desire

survive

its own arrival.

— AËLA