with you, love wins all

c. odetohee, 2024. | art by dreamer24star

I have come to terms with the fact that in this lifetime, we get to love many things, in different times, forms, and intensities.

We would love our toys from when we were kids, our first-grade homeroom teacher who would give us stickers, our favorite sweater, the blend of coffee we drink every morning, the smell of rain, the feeling of soft sheets against our cheek, the view outside the plane window, the flowers on the first bouquet we have ever received, the scent of our go-to perfume, the book we can’t seem to put down, the brand of pen we always use, the song we belt in the car, that one tv show that ended years ago, the piano we used to play, and even the mere thought of peace, calmness, and sleep.

All of these are but things we come to love as we venture into the maze that is called life… and the fact that there’s so much room for love despite the cruelty of the world we’re living in is enough consolation for whatever hell we have to go through.

However, there is a kind of love that transcends everything else. The kind of love that comes with gratitude, the kind of love that makes your heart ache beautifully. The kind of love you’d want to keep and show off to the world simultaneously. The kind of love that pushes you to believe in it. The kind of love that makes you want to stretch your days so that you can bask in the warmth and the comfort that it brings. The kind of love that heals, the kind of love that makes you regret all the times you have ever doubted its existence.

The kind of love that wins all — one that I only felt when I came to love you.

Love is something that can never be quantified, but I will spend my days making sure that I love you more than I did yesterday and less than I will tomorrow.

I will love you in all the ways there is to love you and I pray that you are kind to yourself in ways the world never was.

In the silence between the earth’s broken melodies, yours is the name my heart will sing.