 He saw her for the first time in a classroom. His reaction couldn't have been less subtle. Did his heart just stop beating? He could understand his hesitation in disrupting such an existential moment of pure bliss. Her name was Layla, Layla Al-Amriya. Dark as the night was her hair, and in its absence of light, Qais ibn al-Muallah would lose himself, losing fully his construct of ego, lost beyond that moment and for all eternity. Submission to Layla, and to his overwhelming feeling for her, was all that was real, and all that was left. And since that fateful day, the two youths, Qais and Layla, were inseparable. In and out of school, the two shared time, space, expression, and self. And as their ages advanced, and gave way to young adulthood, society began to rip away at the innocence that so protected their pure love over the many years. It was no longer acceptable for these two to inhabit each other's souls, and so, Layla's family, with intentions to protect the reputation of their clan, began a systemic campaign to reduce her public presence. School was cancelled indefinitely. Feeling the pain of his missing soulmate, a burning fire raged within faith. He had so much to say to Layla, so much to profess about his unconditional love and about her miracle of beingness. To submit again and again, and accept that being without her, there was no existence. No life, no Qais. As an outlet, there was no other option but to share these sentiments with whomever would listen. Family, friends, even strangers. And hence began the earning of his future epithet, Mejnun, a man possessed. At every opportunity, Qais without care, hesitation, and full of sorrowful words would profess his obsessive passion for Layla. From town square to market, Qais would relay his cries of melancholy for all to hear. The Mejnunmen became infamous throughout the streets of the town, and upon hearing of their son's exploits, discontented and concerned for his well-being, Qais's family decided to act and help the man in returning back to his senses. Sayyid, on behalf of his son Qais, visited Layla's father to ask for her hand in marriage, only to be turned away. No clan wanted to be associated with a man needing exorcism, a man who crazily wandered the streets of the town. Upon hearing of this refusal, Qais lost all sense of reality. The mist fortune just experienced fueled his sorrows and reinvigorated his hunger for professing more and more about his love for Layla, and the separation that he was just experiencing. The town and its limited size would not quench his thirst for orating the heartache and suffering he was enduring. He left his town and began wandering the neighboring deserts, seeking new audience. Travelers, Bedouins, and strangers of all kind would come to hear of Qais and Layla's virginal love. The wildlife he encountered would listen and weep with Qais as he spoke in verse, reflecting on his passions and his loss. No being, living or unliving, would be left untouched by Qais's poetry. Even the spirits and demons all came to know about the radiance of Layla and the agony of Qais. For the air world, the Qais and Layla story as originally written by the Persian poet Nalami is one centered on pure love. It is founded on the concept of losing one's individuality for someone and something much bigger and significantly more beautiful. It is a sad story that sees how the purity of such impassioned existence can consume us, as it can also instill fear in those among us who simply don't understand. Qais and Layla would never be together. They would grow older, alone. She'd be married off to further distance her from the reaches of Qais and his words, yet this marriage would never be consummated. He would roam the barren lands and share with the world his devotion to Layla, till the moment he heard of her death due to a broken heart. A broken heart, he was the cause of. He'd be found only a few days later embracing the tombstone of Layla's grave, a final verse of love and dedication, written in the soft sand near his deceased body, echoing the final words of his earthly torment. In our popular culture, the story of Qais and Layla, or the term Majnuun Layla, a man possessed by Layla, although centered on factual events that took place in the seventh century BCE, to this day offers both the hope for the existence of a pure and perfect love while also working as a warning concerning obsessive love. A warning that a love too strong or too overwhelming might lead to a cessation of reason, a disconnection within our psyche, when our actions become foreign to societal expectations and cultural propriety. But can a love so strong and so innocent ever be that wrong?