There are times I see your pain and wish to take it and hide it from you. Cocoon you away from sorrow and hurt and sadness. Absorb it into myself to free you from it.

But I am only human.

I am afraid.

Afraid that the other shoe is about to drop. Afraid that this will end in fire and rage with one or both of us screaming in pain. Afraid that you expect too much. Afraid that I can only give too little. Afraid that I will cause you new torment and you will tear me asunder. Afraid that we are playing the world's most dangerous game.

I am afraid. But I am willing.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like if we had met in a different time or place. But the what-if game is a dangerous one to play. 

I'm terrified of the silence.
It's taken you from me before.

Please don't let it take you again.

But you, you could tear this place down to the ground. Pull down every brick, every mortared building. Every person as they lie there, screaming. But you could also build it back up.

All I want is for you to be happy. To be free from the bonds you've made for yourself. Because life is more than a series of obligations.

But you already know that.

There is a beauty that exists here, beneath your skin. Waiting for you to embrace it, if you will only try.

I don't know if you can comprehend the emotional weight of breathing. And I don't know how to explain it to you. 

You remember me sad and sweet and crying. I never showed you me strong and fierce and beautiful.

There is an unfathomable depth to the weight of your words. And I wonder why it doesn't match the lightness of your heart. 

Sometimes I lack the words to tell you how you are meaningful. How you are beautiful. Because you shouldn't need to be told, you should just know.  

Sometimes I wonder if you can every truly know a person. Or if all you ever know is the series of masks they present to the world.