Te Amo, Alberto...

Te Amo, Alberto (The First and Last Page)

Not just when you’re near,
But when you’re far
When the days stretch long,
And your voice is a memory I replay
Like a song I never skip.

I love you in silence,
In the pauses between my thoughts,
In the way your name lives in my breath
Even when I don’t speak it.

I love you
When the world is soft,
And when it is cruel.
When we dance in the kitchen,
And when we say nothing at all.

I love you
In the small ways
No one ever writes about
Folding your shirt,
Saving you the last piece,
Learning your moods like prayer.

There were days I doubted,
Nights I wept,
Mornings, I begged the sky
To answer what only the heart can hold.

And still, you.
Not as a perfect thing,
But as a constant.
As the quiet truth behind my boldest words.
As the reason I write at all.

Te amo, Alberto
Not just as a phrase,
But as a practice.
As the rhythm of my days,
The hush between lines,
The ache that never asks to be cured.

This love, ours, has changed me.
Softened me.
Held me.
And returned to me
When I feared it was gone.

We might be on a break
To learn,
To grow,
To build ourselves.
But this is not the end.
No.

Because I will find my way
Back to you.
Not through force,
But through becoming.
Through patience.
Through truth.

And when the time is right,
We will find our rhythm again
Not from where we left off,
But from who we’ve become.

So if ever you forget,
Let this book remind you that...

I loved you then.
I love you still.
I always will.
Te amo, Alberto
In every way,
Every time,
In every form forever takes.