What do chocolate and love have in common?
Both begin with a sweetness
that makes us smile,
and end with a lingering taste
we can never quite forget.
People give chocolate on Valentine’s Day —
a confession that melts easily on the tongue:
“I like you.”
“I care for you.”
But love isn’t always milk chocolate.
Sometimes it’s rich and bitter
like pure cocoa —
you close your eyes to endure it,
yet somehow you still want
one more bite.
I once received a heart-shaped box of chocolates,
filled with pieces so sweet they vanished at a touch.
You said,
“Love is like that.”
The day you left,
one piece remained at the bottom of the box —
so bitter it stung
every memory we made.
Now, whenever I taste chocolate,
I don’t think only of sweetness.
I think of the journey cocoa takes —
all the struggle that shapes its final flavor.
Just like love —
it isn’t complete because of joy alone,
but because of tears shed,
and the lessons that teach us
how to love better.
Chocolate melts quickly on the lips,
but love —
melts slowly in the heart.
