I recommend listening to the song while reading this. :)
"Don’t smile on me
Light on me
I can’t come closer to you
I don’t have a name to be called by"
"… but I still want you"
Being a fan of BTS, as I have said before, it’s one of my things to look upon the meaning and story behind some of their songs. Upon doing that, I came across a very painful story by which some ARMYs said, was the inspiration behind the song. The song is entitled The Truth Untold, and the story is about the legend of the flower Smeraldo.
The story dated back to 15th-16th century which there is said to be a village named La Citta de Smeraldo and according to recent maps, it is now a rural village in northern Italy.
According to the story, there once lived a man in an old castle who hides himself from people because he is “ugly”. He is a product of an unforbidden love because the Duke of Florence, his father, fell in love with his mother who is a daughter of a gardener. His mother died giving birth to him. The affair angered the wife and children of the Duke so they tried to kill the child. To protect him from harm, the duke sent him to the far away castle.
The man lived alone and never let any people in his life. He always wears a mask because he is “ugly”. Probably because of the anger he received since he was born, the man shuts himself from the world. He never opened his heart to anyone and whenever somebody tries to approach him, he would shoo them away in anger and distrust.
He lived contently growing flowers in his garden. His flowers are his happiness. And then one day, something happened unexpectedly, one that changed his life forever.
A girl appeared in front of his castle, dressed in rags, and stole flowers from his garden. It made him so furious so he guarded his garden until night. When he fell asleep, he didn’t notice that the girl came back to steal flowers again and then she ran away.
It happened for several days and the man grew curious of her. He pretended to fall asleep and watched her steal flowers and go. He did not realize he was already waiting for her every day. Out of curiosity of where she is taking the flowers to, he wore a cloak and secretly followed her.
He found out that the girl is poor and she sells his flowers to make a living. He felt very bad for her and wanted to help her. The man wanted to approach the girl, he wanted to talk to her and teach her how to grow flowers beautifully but he got no courage to do so. He was afraid she would run away if she sees him.
The man then started to grow beautiful flowers for her to pick and sell. He was already falling in love with the girl. He wanted to talk to her and confess his love but he could not show up. He was too afraid so he hid from her and just watched her from his castle.
The only thing he could do was grow flowers of the best quality. One day, he decided to plant the most expensive flower for her, the Smeraldo. After many attempts, he succeeded. He filled his garden with it and waited for the girl to come back. But she did not. He waited and waited but the girl did not appear in front of his castle anymore.
It made him sad and anxious so he came back to the village where he saw her, but it was too late because he found out that the girl had died.
"Perhaps, back then,
by just a little,
by just a bit,
if I had taken courage and stood in front of you,
would everything be different now?"
The flower is said to have meant: ‘non-potevo dire la verità’ or ‘the truth that could not be told’.
Moral of the story, from my perspective: Do it before you regret it. Regret is always at the end. Like what they always say, you'll never know if you'll never try.
Such a sad story. I feel so bad for the both of them, especially for the man. They did not get to talk. He could not even know what the girl's name is. And he couldn't confess his love.
Thank you for reading!