#CollateralBeauty - Letter to Love

Better to have loved and lost ...

**I was tagged by the incomparable imaginator1D to write a letter for Collateral Beauty. I knew this chick and I were kindred spirits because we both poured our hearts out to Love 💜. Go over to her profile and sob over her gorgeous words. Bring tissues**

Love.

You're such a small word.

Four letters. One syllable. And yet you are infinite. Endless.

But there are so many who are afraid of you, even as they desperately cling to hope – begging to find you – many still run away. Hide. Close themselves away in the deepest, darkest corners of themselves. Where no one can dare follow.

I found you. Or rather, you found me.

I heard you whispering in my head, bringing my heart to life with a gentle touch every time he was near. So full of promise and hope. A soft light that became a brightness that dazzled me.

But I was afraid.

I didn't know what you were, or how to understand you. I felt. And that feeling came with so many consequences. Obstacles I didn't think I was strong enough, brave enough to face. How could I? So young – so inexperienced – it seemed impossible.

So I closed my eyes, and reached for something safe. Like. Respect. Trust.

All of which are the very foundations of what you're built on, true – but without a single vital component – that breathless, heart stopping wonder that is you. Deep. Visceral. The searing, vital thread that makes you so beautiful and terrifying at the same time. A  connection so profound, so deep, so unyielding it transcended all others.

How could I have known...?

You followed me for years, though. Determined. Always in the background of my thoughts. In that secret skip of my heart. In the desolate, aching, longing of my dreams. I couldn't escape you no matter how hard I tried.

And then I stopped running. I stopped hiding. I listened to you. Opened myself to you.

I gave myself over, completely. I risked. I felt more deeply, more passionately then I ever had in my life. A love that seared the soul, that sank deep beneath my skin and straight to my marrow.

There is nothing more powerful, or no greater agony, than letting yourself burn.

For you I did, and would burn a thousand times again. Until I am ash. I would burn. Either a blaze or an ember, it doesn't matter because now I understand that love isn't always easy and it isn't always shared. Sometimes to love is to be consumed by it alone.

A price I am willing to pay because I wasted your gift once, but I see now the stark beauty that follows in the wake of a broken heart – of unrequited love. For a precious moment you gave me something beautiful, and I will treasure it. And mourn for what could have been had I been brave.

So I make this promise, Love, that if I am fortunate enough to hear your whispers again – to feel you touch and taste you on my lips -- I will not run. I will face you with open arms. I will fight for you with every breath.

I will burn.

**AN**

This is my entry for the amazing #collateralbeauty which I am so excited to see when it hits theaters. MASSIVE congratulations to the incredibly talented LDCrichton imaginator1D  and krazydiamond.

These ladies are going to slay us with feels, I know it and can't wait to read their letters.

I went with a more emotional piece here - a letter of lost/unrequited love because I think its safe to say many of us have been there. It's a brutal experience, but a necessary one. It shows you the depths of what's inside of you. What you're capable of, and hopefully, makes you brave enough to try again. To reach for it again. And to recognize it when it comes back around.

To not waste it.

For those you still searching, I hope you find it. I hope you find a love like everything it was meant to be.

Burn. Ache. Feel.

Most importantly, I hope you find someone who is brave enough to share in it with you...