You won't discover a perfect love, but you will find a love that is genuine.

 You won't find a perfect love,

but you will discover a love that notices you.

The kind that tears down

your defenses and pushes you

to share the pieces of your soul

you have kept guarded from the world.

You won't find a perfect love,

but you will find a love that reminds you

that it's actually okay to be the kind of person

who has both hope and hurt within them,

and that it's acceptable to be the kind of person

who hasn't always known how to stop

their heart from beating in their chests.

And it is this love that will keep you there.

It will not judge you for how you deal with your grief

or how you present yourself in the world.

This love will not flinch when it sees your sad past,

instead, it will keep you there.

You won't discover a perfect love,

but you will find a love that binds you together.

This love will not be afraid of the depths of your being.

It will take a deep dive.

It will take you to a chair and ask about

your childhood home.

This affection will recognize you and on some levels,

it will feel as if it has always felt that way,

as if you've had a craving for it,

as if your soul was always waiting

to reconnect with the heart,

to come home to the pieces of yourself,

you eventually found, in another human being.

You won't discover a perfect love,

but you will find a love that reminds you

of the kindness in the world.

This love will flow honey into your heart,

making you feel as if warmth has broken through your bones.

And you will witness how it gets to know you, fights for you,

and sticks by your side through the storms.

In a world that favors distance over depth,

you will be reminded that there is a connection.

You will be reminded that hope can be discovered

dripping from another person's fingertips,

tucked between the layers

of the things you still don't know about them.

No, you will not discover a perfect love,

but you will find a love that is light,

easy to carry, and does not weigh you down at your core.

You will finally realize that love was always supposed to be gentle.

It was always supposed to be sensitive

You won't discover a perfect love,

but you will find a love that reminds you of

how deserving you were all along.

This love will demonstrate to you

that you were never asking for too much,

that sending your heart to battle for other people was not foolish,

and that your inability to love in halves was not incorrect.

This love will show you that being the kind of person who loved in a way that was full, nourishing, and hopeful all over was always okay.

It was always fine to be the type of person

who could never hide their feelings.

This love would compensate for all of the times

you were asked to sacrifice your instincts,

for all of the times you tried to break yourself down in order

to soothe or impress someone who wasn't meant for you.

This love will show you that you have

always been deserving of it,

that you have always deserved

to be seen and understood,

to be held and cared for in the same manner

that you have held and cared for everything

that has come before it.

This love will show you that there was never

a time when you were too much.

You were always sufficient.

You were always sufficient.