It also matters whether you're ready to use the right words.

 without illusions –

fom among the cherries I choose

the bitter ones

(Șerban Codrin)

storm warning –

bitter almonds on

the wedding cake

(Lavinia Georgescu Scripcaru)

I notice a certain immaturity in the way some people approach the exceptionally valuable tools that language offers freely to anyone. Bitter cherries and bitter almonds are two phrases that allude to the same idea.

A certain spiritual maturation protects you from the inherent disappointments of fanciful illusions. Life experience endures everything and reinterprets it. The taste of life, as you go through more, becomes richer and more refined. One begins to feel that cuteness and sweetness are beggarly, impoverished illusions.

without illusions –

fom among the cherries I choose

the bitter ones

(Șerban Codrin)

To truly value the fruits of life, you need a more awakened and seasoned consciousness, one that senses that the gifts are ambiguous and paradoxical — both sweet and bitter. Complex and infinitely nuanced. And to choose them while rejecting those that are merely easy, idle bargains.

Comment by Corneliu Traian Atanasiu