At long last, after a separation of years and oceans and fields and mountains, the man and the woman were reunited. Their correspondences had sustained each other with the warmth of love through the biting realities of life, cold and dark, hungry and alone. The memories of each other's faces had become ever more obscure and, they feared, idealized. But when they laid eyes on each other, they were immediately struck with how no image in their minds could compare to the real things. And together, they were more beautiful than they were alone. They embraced, and the warmth they carried inside of them fused and burned with the intensity of a thousand suns. Zing! went the strings of her heart.

They spent the day together, the night together. Zing! went the strings of her heart. They laid in each other's arms one day from sunup to sunrise, staring out at the horizon, speaking only of their love for one another. Zing! went the strings of her heart.

They walked along the beach, hand in hand, bathed in moonlight. They leaned into each other, they supported each other. Zing! went the strings of her heart.

"Are your heart strings going to keep doing that?" he asked.

Their steps halted. "I believe so," she stammered, suddenly fearing, doubting his devotion.

He took a deep breath, mustering up every ounce of tolerance he could. "In time, I hope that I shall accept it, and maybe even grow to love it," he said to the waves. Then he turned to her and smiled.

Zing! went the strings of her heart.

Labels: love, short stories, song references