From afar, it looks surreal
This wan future I think true
But what I claim I know is there
Many others see right through
Such romantic ideation
Makes it easy to stay far
For I know on my approaching
I will see things as they are
While I dream of what I’ve made it
I forget to count the cost
Since in staring at this fiction
I don't see the time I’ve lost
But that scene I thought was waiting
Is in fact a better place
For the distance keeps me lonely
While the closeness brings embrace
Although fantasy is easy
For we men who don’t want near
Choosing truth with imperfection
Will do more to settle fear
When the haze of your own fiction
Dissipates to what is true
You find meaning in the desert
And become more real, too.
Dec 30, 2025
Dec 30, 2025 at 3:44 PM UTC
From afar, it looks surreal
This wan future I think true
But what I claim I know is there
Many others see right through
Such romantic ideation
Makes it easy to stay far
For I know on my approaching
I will see things as they are
While I dream of what I’ve made it
I forget to count the cost
Since in staring at this fiction
I don't see the time I’ve lost
But that scene I thought was waiting
Is in fact a better place
For the distance keeps me lonely
While the closeness brings embrace
Although fantasy is easy
For we men who don’t want near
Choosing truth with imperfection
Will do more to settle fear
When the haze of your own fiction
Dissipates to what is true
You find meaning in the desert
And become more real, too.
This is about the tendency of some of us to remain single because we prefer romantic ideals of love instead of the real, imperfect thing. My goal was to show that the imperfect, but real, love is more meaningful and fulfilling than the loneliness of romantic ideas of love. I use the symbol of a mirage in a desert to illustrate the idealization of love, which, though beautiful, we find is just a figment of our imagination.