Written piece
Love that teaches
Denize Carlos Massingue
Mozambique
About this piece
My poem reflects an emotional disappointment and the inner shift it triggered. It explores how experience reshapes perception, challenging illusions and changing how we understand ourselves and the world after a deeply unsettling experience.
"Love that teaches"
Many of us once saw the world as a perfect square — a shape so simple, yet seemingly flawless.
That was how I saw the world too: like an almost perfect romance film, a Christian journey of resilience and faith, or a delicate feminine perfume with notes of vanilla — sweet and refreshing. Everything seemed harmonious; everything felt safe.
However, more recent experiences have completely reshaped my perspective. The world no longer appears simple or perfect, but rather complex, unstable, and unpredictable.
Part of me wishes I had never discovered this hidden side and could have continued living in the illusion of perfection. But life is not about that… It never was… And perhaps it would be strange if it were.
One day, I had to see the world from different angles — though it was not a precise or calculated 90-degree turn. It was an unexpected and dizzying tilt.
And love — silent and unexpected — was what pulled me away from the straight line where everything once felt safe, teaching me to see through different perspectives.
Human beings are, by far, the most enigmatic species on Earth.
Much is said about love, a theme so common among humanity, but perhaps few truly stop to reflect on the real ability to love, to express love, and on the sacrifices required to truly live it.
Perhaps not everyone possesses the ability to love. Or perhaps they do, but are unwilling to surrender the comfort that love so often threatens.
It is easy to believe that we deserve to be loved. Selfishness? Maybe. Or perhaps it is simply part of our nature — mysterious beings that we are.