My Heart Is Set (A Dramatic Monologue) Poem by ashok jadhav

(The stage is quiet. Evening light filters in. The speaker stands alone, holding an object—perhaps a letter, a photograph, or a symbol of desire. He speaks slowly, as if confessing to the silence.)
They say desire fades.
That time dulls even the sharpest wanting.
But they have never met a heart
that has chosen its direction
and refused to turn back.
(He looks at the object in his hand.)
From the moment I saw it—
not with my eyes, but with my soul—
I knew.
This was not a wish.
Not a passing thought.
This was certainty taking root.
I have set my heart on this.
And once the heart decides,
logic becomes a spectator.
(Pause.)
Do you know how heavy a fixed desire is?
It follows you everywhere.
It sits beside you in silence.
It wakes before you do
and sleeps only when exhaustion wins.
People warned me.
They said, "Be flexible."
They said, "Don't cling so tightly."
They said, "Life rarely gives what you demand."
But the heart does not negotiate.
It does not accept alternatives.
It does not settle.
(His voice tightens.)
I tried to look elsewhere—
tried to convince myself
that something smaller would suffice.
But every substitute tasted hollow.
Every compromise felt like betrayal—
not of others,
but of myself.
Because when the heart is set,
every other path feels wrong.
(He steps forward.)
This desire has cost me sleep.
It has cost me comfort.
It has cost me relationships
that could not compete with a dream.
I have been called stubborn.
Obsessive.
Unreasonable.
Perhaps I am.
But tell me—
is passion ever reasonable?
(Softly.)
There were moments of doubt.
Moments when the goal felt distant,
almost cruel in its silence.
Moments when I wondered
if the heart can lie.
If desire can mislead.
But even in doubt,
the wanting remained.
Unshaken.
Unrelenting.
(He looks upward.)
I did not choose this longing.
It chose me.
Like a star fixed in the sky,
guiding every step,
every sacrifice.
To have one's heart set on something
is not to guarantee success.
It is to accept devotion without certainty.
It is to walk forward
even when the road refuses to promise an end.
(His voice grows firm.)
I know I may fail.
I know the world may deny me.
But I also know this—
a life lived without listening to the heart
is a quieter failure.
Because the heart remembers
what the mind tries to forget.
And it will not forgive abandonment.
(Pause. He breathes deeply.)
So I remain.
Focused.
Unmoved.
If I fall,
I will fall reaching.
If I lose,
I will lose honestly.
(He holds the object close.)
My heart is set.
And until it is fulfilled—
or breaks beyond repair—
I will follow it.
Because some desires
are not meant to be silenced.
They are meant to be lived.
(Lights fade. Silence.)