“Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,
Only to someone who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.”

— Khwāja Šamsu d-Dīn Muḥammad Hāfez-e Šīrāzī, known by his pen name Hāfez (1325–1389) a Persian lyric poet.

As soon as I read this it stunned me with a resonance through my whole body. This is what you have been saying all along, begging me to open my eyes and see. Months ago when I threw myself away, and refused to see it, even though what I was doing went against everything I have fiercely wanted all my life. Yet despite my stubborn recklessness and the unending pain it was causing you, you never once gave up on me. You never gave up believing in what would someday be us. And I have felt your faith unwavering, from the first moment you first looked into my eyes, when I walked into the Central, and crossed the room towards you. I wish I had written about that moment, to preserve it, because not a day has gone by that I haven’t replayed the sun rising through your face and into a never-ending smile, your warm, dark eyes, or the strange premonition that soaked through to me, as I pretended to be unmoved.

A man I loved once made me a blanket in the colours of the sun. I treasured it for years, but it turned out to be the only thing about us that felt safe. That blanket is long gone with his momentary love, but I have found myself surrounded by something far more real. Your blanket woven by your bravery through all our experiences together and protected by your fierce belief in us across this huge distance. And every day, since the day I foolishly left you standing there on that island, I have carried the stone of protection you wove for my neck right against my heart. And with it, that little piece of your soul. I don’t even sleep without it.

What you have continually offered has always been my dream. I will never accept less than this again; and you will never again receive less than this from me.

I am so grateful to you, so grateful for you. My treasure.