when love arrives

dedicated to thea

when love arrives, it knocks subtly on your mahogany door. so unassuming, love doesn't ask you to go on an adventure without further ado. love waits. they wait for you to open the way to your house, that creaking sound will someday become familiar to love's ears.

when love arrives again the next day on your front porch, you're already outside. placid with your small movements, yet inviting with the way you serve your tea. love sits next to you. when you both exchange stories, your eyes are darting back and forth to what's ahead instead toward each other. love wants to swim in the depth of your eyes, but his subconscious alerts him: wait, this moment shall be relished slowly. so love awaits.

when love arrives at your doorstep delivering a bouquet of tulips, you welcome love with a smile larger than life. it has been only days since love greeted you for the first time, yet love has told you that love wouldn't let you confine yourself to this mundane life. tell me about your dream, your wildest imagination. your most treasured memories, and what makes this life worth to be carried on. so, you tell love, you tell love even if it means tearing your heart open. even if it means stitching it up again the next day.

when love arrives with a dish they cook for you, you bring your blanket to the backyard where there's a small stream flowing and trees growing. this is a miniature of life that you want; peeling fruit in the presence of soulful human being, tasting meals that are specifically cooked for you, and sharing this brief minute with someone. for a split second, you promise it feels eternal.

when love no longer arrives, they stay. every furniture is now tinted with their presence. the coach used to be one place you could lie your head on, it's now their shoulder. the journal on your bedside used to store your tales, it's now their unchanged ears. home used to be a place you used to wander around, now you have two.

when love stays, you realize that you'd spend your whole life studying their fingertips and how they spark electricity when they graze against your cheek. you realize that you'd spend mornings and nights building a garden of alien flowers; adjacent to your cabin is now a greenhouse. you realize that you've spent your delightful time falling in love carefully, without rush, without hurried steps, or the fear of facing delay. you've fallen in love with the love that arrived and now they stay, and you let them.

happy birthday, kak thea!

all those sleepless nights exchanging stories with you, going down the path of understanding each other's emotions – i would not exchange that for anything. you've introduced me to so many forms of love and their delicacy.

you have come so far & it's been such an honor to be able to witness a piece of your life you're willing to share. learning is a fun, never-ending, resilient process with you. here's to unraveling many more interests life already has for us. here's to more things to be exchanged in the future. here's to knowing you more and your beautiful mind.

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