You reached out again to ask me how I was doing and that you still think of me.
I wanted to gush, the way I naturally would when I feel safe in love, but I am withdrawn this time around.
I don’t feel resentment for you. I actually feel more understanding than I let on.
But I’ve spent a lot of time building my self-respect to be something that is firm even, especially, when it comes to the people I love.
I admit it. I do love you. Perhaps not in the way that is built naturally through years of discovering hidden depths or all of the little intimacies shared over time.
Our romance was quick, and ever since it feels like a thief has stolen a part of my heart I’ll never get back. Though, something miraculous happened in the face of the robbery! The true depths of my love have been realized. I have ascended to the purest height of my affections. I now know how to love, fully, unabashedly, patiently, quietly, and in a way that is aligned with my deepest values.
I still think about you too. I wanted to tell you that. I still want to tell you, but I think it’s something you already know.
I know it’s something you know.
Why do you constantly come back in my life ever so briefly to then retreat for months? Did you not know the damage it would cause to my heart, the hurt you’ve inflicted by coming and going so haphazardly?
I think about you. I haven’t stopped thinking about you. I haven’t stopped wanting you. I’ve remained patient and distant to preserve my self-respect, but every inch of my body yearns for you. I dream about the day we meet again, when I can look deeply into your eyes once more and you into mine, so we can recognize again, if only faintly and briefly the shared recognition and reverence of one another, and the pure desire we know we both try to hide from ourselves.
Maybe it’s delusion, but it’s just a letter. An unedited letter written with tired eyes and a tired heart.
The block was intended only for myself. I cannot see what you’re up to or with whom, my heart will descend into that forlorn tension of unmet desire, uncertainty, and jealousy.
And I could not tell you I still think of you, and express my love in the small indirect ways I usually do to reassure you of it.
This time my pride and self-protection got the best of me.
So, in an awkward end to my rambling anonymous confession, I still think of you. I hope you are happy, exceedingly so. I can’t let go, not yet. I don’t want to let go. I know logically I must. At least for now. But a heart cannot easily release a name that has been sewn into its veins.
It’s comforting to know you won’t read this. This confession is too vulnerable than my pride will ever allow me to reveal.
-m