To Be Loved
Written by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar © 4th June 2025
To Be Loved
said the fish
Not by force,
nor fear,
nor need.
But by a gentle drift
of open seas,
the tender pull
of currents kind.
A space to be seen,
not seized,
yet still – swimming free.
This gentle and evocative spoken word, To Be Loved, is a meditation on the longing for love that is unconditional, spacious, and safe.
Spoken in the voice of a fish, it expresses a quiet yearning not for possession or control, but for connection that allows for freedom and authenticity.
The fish does not want to be captured by force or needed as a solution to someone else’s emptiness. Instead, it seeks love that flows naturally – like kind ocean currents, soft and steady, offering presence without pressure.
The imagery of “a gentle drift / of open seas” and “currents kind” evokes the vastness of emotional landscapes and the necessity of safety within relationships.
The fish’s world is fluid, ever-moving, and yet it holds a desire to be seen, to be understood, without being trapped. This mirrors a deeply human need: to be truly known without being controlled, and to be accepted without having to perform or shrink.
When paired with the artwork Fish Magic by Paul Klee, the poem takes on further resonance. Klee’s dreamlike image, where fish float among symbols of stars, plants, and abstract forms, creates a surreal underwater cosmos.
It suggests the mysterious inner life we all carry – an ecosystem of memory, emotion, and longing. The poem becomes a whisper from that inner world, inviting us to rethink how we love and allow others to be loved: not by taming them, but by creating the space in which their true selves can swim free.
Together, the spoken word and image speak to the magic of tenderness and the sacredness of autonomy.
They ask us to consider: Can we love without holding on too tightly? Can we cherish without confining? The fish, in its quiet wisdom, reminds us that love, like water, must flow – not grasp.